The Cobbler – photos from the beginning …

... and tips along the way.

For the cobbler it's important to cook your onions well ahead, so that they've time to cool properly. Once they are cooled and boxed you might want to wrap said box, tightly, in cling film. There is nothing worse than thinking the box has done its job, only to discover that the onions have tainted everything in the fridge, too late!

Here's a couple of snaps :

this is what the onions should look like

it might look like I've overdone it – I promise

you I haven't!

By chilling the onions they'll be easier to amalgamate into the rest of the cobbler recipe, ready to immerse in your soup. If I can cook elements of a dish ahead and fridge it suits me very well. It's never a chore to bring together a dish if you've everything ready to rock and roll. It may not be possible with every recipe but for comfort food i.e. soup, casseroles or slow cooker based dishes they generally benefit from being cooked ahead and thus allowing flavours to develop.

In this instance, I made my soup the day before, cooled and fridged (still in the saucepan) and then blitzed it to thicken the following morning. I also got myself organised for the cobbler and set my stall out. I weighed the dry ingredients and popped into a mixing bowl. I weighed and diced the butter, cling filmed and fridged – I grated the cheese and ditto.

All that remains is for me to measure the milk and mix.

Wish me luck!

Autumn leaves – soup and a cobbler

My soup comes from the back catalogue and I make no apology for repeating it – if you'd like the recipe check out the Soup label Sunday 3 February 2019 Veggie or not – take 2! - Carrot, Coriander and Chickpea Soup is the perfect vehicle to “hold” a cobbler or a dumpling for that matter – it's thick, rustic and substantial and called a “rib sticker” from my neck of the woods.

I found the cobbler recipe – tweaked – in the September issue of Waitrose Food :

Cheese & Onion Cobbler

2 medium onions, finely diced

15g of unsalted butter

1

dessertspoon of rapeseed oil

a pinch of salt

The cobbler topping

375g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp sea salt

75g unsalted butter – diced and chilled

250ml milk – I used semi-skimmed

125g Gruyere, coarsely grated

Method

For the onions

Using a medium sized frying pan, melt the butter and rapeseed oil, add the onions and salt and cook on a medium to low heat for 15 minutes, stirring until soft and golden. Set aside to cool.

For the cobbler

Using a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt and butter and rub in with your fingertips until you've got a breadcrumb texture. Add the milk, cheese and onions and stir with round bladed knife until just combined. Spoon large blobs on to the top of your gently simmering soup. It will help if your blobs are of a similar size so that they cook consistently. The recipe says 14 – cook for 25-30 minutes until the cobbler is golden brown.

Sounds like a great theory, now it's time to put it into practice!

The Autumn leaves …

… are beginning to fall – chillier earlier in the evening as the nights draw in.

More comfort food is required and I think warrants another search for favourites in the back catalogue. I don't need to look in the back catalogue for what comes next – I immediately think of soup. You may think boring but as with lots of dishes it's what you serve with that elevates. In my opinion soup on its own just isn't right – it needs zhuzh and by that I mean either good rustic bread, garlic or otherwise for dunking purposes or a step up, either a dumpling or a cobbler.

What's the difference? A dumpling usually contains suet (veggie or not) although it's true you can make them using self raising flour, whereas a cobbler is a scone based mix. Cobblers can be both sweet or savoury. I thought we'd have a change and make a cheese and onion cobbler to adorn the top of the soup.

Before I begin with the recipe for the cobbler I think it's worthwhile repeating a tip I gave in April relating then to dumplings but which will be equally useful for the cobbler.

“Traditionally dumplings are placed on top of a casserole with a tightly fitting lid. Casseroles have a thicker consistency than soup and obviously, usually, slow cooked in the oven. Soup simmers on top of the hob and saucepan lids “sit” on top of the pan and are not what I'd describe as “tightly fitting”.

Here's my tip - tear off a sheet of foil large enough to overlap the pan, push down slightly and then secure with the lid. Make sure your soup is simmering gently before you add the dumplings and seal with foil. 20 minutes later you'll have dumplings the size of which you wouldn't believe!”

A bowl of soup with cheese and onion cobbler – bring it on!

Here goes …

Baked apples and sultanas – ready to eat and serving suggestions

The beauty of this dessert is its ease – the apples are cooked, the sultanas steeped and the crumble is cooked too. All you have to do once assembled is to pop it into a pre-heated oven 150fan/170c/Gas 3 for 10/15 minutes whilst you're tucking into your main course. Note to self – set your timer and take it to the table!

Here it is :

ready to eat!

A serving suggestion – or two. I had a batch of sticky toffee sauce in my freezer so added a spoonful on top – decadent I know – it's a treat! Any “sweet side” would work from custard to cream, clotted or not, to ice cream.

If you want the sticky toffee sauce recipe you can find it on the Sweet Sauce label – Dids – the sprinkles and the sauce for the Susan.

Finally, I gave Margaret a portion – there has to be a “takeaway” sweet treat, topped with the sticky toffee sauce and she ate it cold – and loved it – it would appear that the Baked Apples and Sultanas is versatile too. Can't say I'm overfond of cold desserts that I always think should be served warm or hot. However, as that old proverb says, “the proof of the pudding (is in the eating)” – in other words you can only judge the quality of something after you've tried it!

Coming up … the Autumn leaves are beginning to fall

Baked apples and sultanas – the sweet surprise, assembly and photos

It just goes to show what you can do with fruit in your bowl that is surplus to requirements or may be not as fresh as you'd like. Similarly if you're a fan, like me, of always making more stuff than you need – in this instance the crumble mix – and stashing it in the freezer, here's the result!

from the oven – you can see the

syrupy juices – cover and leave to cool then

fridge until you're ready

with the sultanas added and folded through

remember the “make ahead” crumble from The back

catalogue – an ice cream and a new crumble? Here

it is again, proving its use, sprinkled over the apples

and sultanas!

There's more …

A savoury weekend treat and a sweet surprise

On my shopping list this weekend was a Pink Lady apple, which I hoped I'd be able to buy loose – wrong – I needed a large one for my treat to myself - beetroot relish and finished up buying four.

I'd also bought Pink Lady fruit juice for a change – not realising how handy it would be.

Here's what happened to the three I had left :

Baked Apples with sultanas and

optional sticky toffee sauce

ahead of the game take two handfuls of

sultanas – place in a box with a tight fitting

lid. Add 150ml of Pink Lady fruit juice,

fridge and steep overnight

Grease a dish that measures 25x17x5cms (10x7x2”)

with 1 tsp of unsalted butter

2 tbsp of soft dark brown sugar

½ tsp of vanilla bean paste

1 tsp of cinnamon – mix all three

ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl

3 Pink Lady apples – peeled, cored and

sliced and add to the sugar, paste and cinnamon

in the bowl together, add 1 tbsp of Pink Lady apple

juice from the steeping - mix well to combine then tip into your

greased dish

Bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven 150fan/170c/Gas 3

turn after 15 minutes and set aside to cool, then cover.

Note : you want the apples to keep their shape, not turn

into mush

Next up – assembly and photo guide

Pasty gate – the verdicts

Margaret reported in as promised – short and to the point … “delicious – again please!” I'll take that, thank you!

Then I had a light bulb moment! In these troubled times I've heard, already, that Christmas celebrations are hanging in the balance. There's also the question of gifts. Off the cuff I asked Margaret what she thought about making a list of her favourite food treats I could give her for Christmas – that went down very well.

I suspect the list already includes, apart from a pasty or two (note to self, halved and easy therefore to freeze and take a portion when the mood takes) lemon drizzle syrup, cheese scones – I could go on, the final choices coming soon!

News just in and a direct quote from my other tester friends - “we saved the precious cargo until today ...”.

“... really loved it, especially the pastry – recipes by email please! I'll try it and let you know how I go.”

I should explain that my friend lives in the USA and is a student too – a very good one – the recipes will be winging their way across the sea to North Carolina. I've taken the liberty of saving him time and sourced a supplier for lard and a veggie shortening alternative in the US – his favourite place to shop – Walmart. I should have known!

If you have spare apples in your fruit bowl …