Blackberry Cobbler with Lemon Thyme

Blackberry Cobbler with Lemon Thyme

Oh August and Blackberry Cobbler!


He threaded among willows and sycamores and wild blackberry vines in the riverbed, patted the trunks of live oak and scrub oak, madrone and laurel.
East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Oh August! We still have fresh blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, a new crop of crisp apples and pears too. I’m dizzy with possibility. I grew up devouring summer cobblers, crumbles and crisps. We scooped lush, sweet fruit into our bowls and went back to dig in the pan until it was all gone. Scraping the corners of the pan to get every last bit of sticky fruit was a must. My mom was known for her pies but when she was summer busy a cobbler topped with drop biscuits brought no complaints. Desserts with more fruit than topping, more fruit than sugar, just more fruit is the siren song of August in California.

A cobbler is a classic American dessert, lots of barely sweetened fruit topped with fluffy homemade biscuits. This is a recipe that takes the classic pairing of biscuits and jam and tosses it up in the air! It lands with more jammy fruit than biscuit. The pillowy biscuits are tender crumbed from butter and cream. Their bottoms nestle into the fruit while the biscuit tops reach high in the oven to gain their toasty brown tops. For a golden finish brush the biscuit tops with more cream and a sprinkle of sugar. READ MORE . . .

Pickled Red Onions

Pickled Red Onions

A Savory Opinion

“Because the day had been hot, Lee set a table outside under an oak tree, and as the sun neared the western mountains he padded back and forth from the kitchen, carrying the cold meats, pickles, potato salad, coconut cake, and a peach pie which were supper. In the center of the table he placed a giant stoneware pitcher of milk.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Onions, garlic and shallots are constant companions in the kitchen. My savory cooking would be very dull without assistance from alliums. Pickled Red Onions bring bright, fresh notes without much effort. Making a quick refrigerator pickle yields a huge boost of flavor from combining the savory notes of the onion with the zippy flavors of a pickle. All this amazing flavor without any fat or cooking. And they last for a week in the refrigerator. My favorite way to enjoy the Pickled Red Onions is on sandwiches, burgers, tacos and salads. Anything that needs a spark of flavor will benefit from the Pickled Red Onions. READ MORE . . .

Tomatoes with Bread Pudding and Roasted Carrot Salad

Tomato Bread Pudding

Looking for John Steinbeck

“You can see how this book has reached a great boundary that was called 1900. Another hundred years were ground up and churned, and what had happened was all muddied by the way folks wanted it to be–more rich and meaningful the further back it was.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

East of Eden is a work of fiction that also includes real Steinbeck family history. Which makes for a very fascinating story. While John’s family history in the Salinas Valley unfolds the biblical parable of Cain and Abel is told with (mostly) fictional characters. John Steinbeck includes his mother’s, Olive Hamilton, family members as main characters in the novel. Olive’s parents, Samuel and Liza Hamilton are featured prominently in the novel. He wrote very little about his father’s family, the Steinbeck’s. I visited the San Benito County Historical Society to learn more of John Steinbeck’s paternal family history. READ MORE . . .