A blueberry cobbler recipe, famously created by Alice Waters, has long been considered the gold standard of that dessert. The West Coast chef reduced the amount of sugar in a traditional cobbler highlighting the fruit’s natural sweetness. On the opposite coast, John Martin Taylor, king of the peach cobbler, does not shy away from sugar. He includes a full cup to his dough — and he’s sticking to it. Surely their surroundings and culinary heritages influenced their choices: Waters is a Mediterranean-influenced Californian and Taylor is deeply rooted in the Carolina low country.
A cobbler made with fruit is, by definition, a free-form dessert concocted of a fruit base and biscuit topping. The dough is dolloped in a large spoonful onto the fruit, which puffs up in the baking to look like cobblestoned streets.
I prefer peaches over blueberries. I only like blueberries out of a pail during picking expeditions in the wilds of Maine. Instead I combine what I like best from each of these chefs’ recipes. I take Taylor’s peaches and Waters’ dough and add my own touch of raspberries for fun.
Peaches grow more successfully in some places than others. Italy and Georgia, for example. I will never forget tasting a perfect peach some years ago when staying with my aunts just south of Rome. I let the juice run down my chin and arms to the elbows, thoroughly enjoying and embarrassing myself. I never tasted one that good again.
By June, Georgia peaches make an appearance at certain supermarkets and specialty produce stores. Grab them up as quickly as possible. Look for ripe, unbruised fruit, slightly soft to the touch. If they’re unavailable, wait a few weeks for locally grown ones from mid-July through mid-August. In that fleeting season, chefs and home cooks use them in courses beyond dessert. I’ve seen them paired with onions in a savory jam, partnered with basil in a pasta dish and stacked with bacon and lettuce in sandwiches.
I nearly always choose yellow peaches rather than the mealier, less sweet white ones. I save those for Bellinis, the effervescent Venetian cocktails. This space needs a Bellini recipe, so here it is:
BELLINI COCKTAIL
Bartender Giuseppe Cipriani invented this fizzy drink at Harry’s Bar in Venice. Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini inspired the rosy color achieved by adding raspberries. In the late 1940s, the artists and writers, like Ernest Hemingway, who frequented Harry’s spread the drink’s reputation.
4 or 5 white peaches, peeled and pitted
¾ cup cool water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 ice cubes
½ tablespoon granulated white sugar
4 raspberries, fresh or frozen
¾ cup Prosecco
— Puree all ingredients, except Prosecco, in a blender.
— Pour the puree into chilled flutes. Slowly pour in the Prosecco and stir gently.
Bellini break over. Back to peach cobbler.
More peach wisdom: Do not attempt to ripen on the kitchen counter as nicely as a tomato or avocado. When ripened they do not need refrigeration and will live showily in a bowl on the table for a few short days.
PEACH COBBLER, BELLINI-STYLE
Makes 4 to 6 servings
Whipped cream poured over the top of a warm cobbler melts and mingles with the fruit juices. I do not sweeten my whipped cream, but that’s the cook’s choice.
4½ cups fresh peaches
⅓ cup sugar
¾ cup fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Dough:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ tablespoons sugar
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
¾ cup heavy cream, plus additional for serving, if desired
— Heat the oven to 375 degrees. To prepare the peaches and berries, place in a bowl and toss with the sugar and flour. Set aside.
— To make the dough: mix the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the cream and mix lightly, just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
— Put the blueberries in a 1½-quart gratin or baking dish. Make patties out of the dough, 2 to 2½ inches in diameter and ½-inch thick. Arrange them over the top of the berries. Bake until the topping is brown and the juices bubble thickly around it, about 35 to 40 minutes.
— Let cool slightly. Spoon out of the baking dish to serve warm, with freshly whipped cream.
PLT SANDWICH
Makes 4.
Switch out tomatoes for peaches for a lively treat.
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon spicy honey
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 slices bread, toasted
12 to 16 slices crisp bacon
4 or 5 medium peaches, pitted, sliced ¼-inch thick
4 to 8 Romaine lettuce leaves
— Stir together the mayo, honey and black pepper. Spread over one side of each bread slice.
— Pile up bacon and peach slices on 4 slices of bread. Top with lettuce leaves and remaining 4 slices of bread.
Linda Bassett lived in Marblehead for years and has worked as a cook, trained up-and-coming chefs, studied food history and led food tours. Her book, “From Apple Pie to Pad Thai,” is about local cooks and cooking.
Linda Bassett
Marblehead resident Linda Bassett has worked as a cook, trained up-and-coming chefs, studied food history and led food tours. Her book, “From Apple Pie to Pad Thai,” is about local cooks and cooking.
