Listener Requests.
Back in the 80s, I worked as an announcer for a classical music radio station, and hosted the Saturday morning listener requests program. Phone lines opened only 20 minutes before the show began; listeners gave me their classical listening wishes, and — like a jigsaw puzzle — I put together a list of four segments of about 53 minutes each, leaving me time for announcing the works and the requisite station identification at the top of the hour. It was fun, but pulling it all together at the last minuts was pretty stressful.
To this day, I still take requests, but of a different nature and pacing: food requests from dinner guests. If they like, guests can peruse my blog, or one of my family cookbooks, and ask for certain dishes, any course from soup to dessert. It’s more fun and less stressful than my radio show. This week’s request was from my friend Michael for his birthday dessert: Blueberry Cobbler. Remarkably, it is something for which I had no recipe, so I went online. One from Chez Panisse caught my attention. I tested it, made several adjustments, and that is what Michael got for his birthday; request fulfilled.
~ David
Blueberry Cobbler
David Scott Allen, Cocoa & Lavender
- 32 ounces fresh blueberries, about 6 cups
- 2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar divided
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 cups flour divided
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into 1/3-inch cubes
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- vanilla ice cream for serving
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Rinse the berries, drain, and place them in a bowl. Sprinkle over the 2/3 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons flour and toss to mix. Set aside.
Whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, and the baking powder in a bowl. Add the butter and toss to coat. Using your thumb and fingers, pinch the butter into the flour mixture creating butter “flakes.” Keep pinching until there are no large pieces of butter left. Add the cream and mix with a fork, then, using your (floured) hands, mix further just until the dry ingredients are moistened and in large clumps: the cobbles.
Put the blueberries in a round or oval baking dish — a large soufflé dish works well. Take large clumps of dough and place them on top of the berries. Fit any extra topping in here and there. Bake until the topping is brown and the juices bubble thickly around it, about 40 minutes.
Let cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of ice cream.
Serves 6.
Markipedia adds that it is the lumps that make it a cobbler. A cobble is a lump, as in a small hill, or paving stone, piece of coal, or sloppy repair job… or that lump of dough on dessert. No lump, no cobbler.
