PEACH COBBLER

It’s that amazing time of year when fruits are abundant. I walk into the market and the sweet, heady aroma fills me up and deactivates all sense of practicality in me. I buy way too much to ever eat it all by myself, and I can’t stand to let it go to waste… So it’s pie time, or, cobbler time.

I used to make pies all the time. I actively researched and worked on perfecting my crust. When I saw my friend Michael Lee at parties, I’d hog his time, mining his expertise on the flakey pastry. He always showed up at these parties with a pie or two, and they were magnificent. I longed to make a pie as good. Eventually, I did.

I still make pies for Thanks-giving and other special occasions, but in the summer-time, when my fruit is ripening faster than I can manage, I make a cobbler. My cobbler-making phase came about due to poor planning. I was going to a dinner and promised a pie for dessert, but I ran out of time. Not that a pie takes that long, it just takes longer than a cobbler. I got on-line, looked up a recipe on Epicurious and was pulling my first Peach Cobbler out of the oven in 45 minutes. It was a hit. I was a hit. What more could you want?

Yesterday in Seattle we broke the record for heat – it was in the upper 90’s. This will not seem so bad to those who live in the desert, as I used to – but when you’re acclimated to the warmest days hovering around 80°…well, it was hot. But the peaches were pungent – it was time for cobbler!