Cobbler Gobbler

What happens on a day when a blogger doesn’t have a camera in her handbag?

* She meets for the first time, the distant relative and now good friend from Norway she’s been talking to via email for the last, oh, eight years, who happens to have travelled to Sydney for World Youth Day.
* She passes by the new Babycakes by Renee city shop shop on Erskine St and resists (though probably wouldn’t have if she did have a camera with her, and will certainly remember it on her inevitable return visit)
* She walks past the awe-inspiring Sydney Harbour. Even though she’s lived in this city all her life, the view still takes her breath away. Then she visits The Rocks, with its quaint old architecture that she loves so much.
* She goes to the Australian Heritage Hotel for a particularly patriotic lunch – pepper kangaroo pizza, complete with native berries, and a famous pale ale from Little Creatures Brewery in Western Australia. Both were spectacular. For those who haven’t tried it, kangaroo is similar in flavour to beef but incredibly tender. Even more amusing was that Norwegian relative said he had been patting one at the zoo only the day before.
* She has some lovely gelato from Gelatissimo in Circular Quay for dessert.
* The delicious lemon meringue pie she made, comprised of Dorie Greenspan’s pâte sablée, LemonPi’s delicious lemon cream, and a slathering of just-torched meringue was completely gobbled down with no leftovers.

At least I got a photo of the cobbler I made! It was partly inspired by the recent Tuesdays With Dorie challenge and partly by an apple and rhubarb pie I made during my recent trip to Perth. I really loved the combination, though I think it would be hard for me to not like a dessert containing rhubarb. With some pink lady apples hanging around in the fruit bowl, and the mountain of rhubarb I’ve recently acquired in waiting the fridge, the deal was sealed.

On the subject of cobblers… They are not something we see a lot of in Australia. Fruit crumbles are much more popular, no doubt a gift from the British. As I understand it, a British cobbler is a savoury dish, with meat and vegetables cooked under a crust, while a crumble is sweet with a fruit filling. In America, the cobbler and crisp share similarities in that they both contain fruit and taste delicious with ice cream, yet the toppings differ between a scone/biscuit for the former and an oat and/or nut based for the latter.

I loved the warmth and homeliness of this dessert. Next time I would probably swap a vanilla bean for the lemon in the filling to balance the tastes better. I am a little undecided as to whether the cinnamon really works here, and if adding vanilla to the filling I would tend to continue that with the topping. Move over Cookie Monster, I'm a Cobbler Gobbler!

Rhubarb and Apple Cobbler
Adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller
Serves 4-6

Filling
• ½ bunch rhubarb, cut into 2cm lengths
• 3 pink lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
• 5 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Topping
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 50g butter, coarsely chopped
• 90mL buttermilk
• Raw sugar and buttermilk, extra

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F)
2. Place apple, rhubarb, sugar, cornflour and lemon zest and juice in a bowl and stir to combine. Transfer to a 1.5L capacity oven safe dish.
3. To make the topping, process flour, raw sugar, cinnamon and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add buttermilk and process until mixture forms a dough.
4. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Roll out to 4mm thick and using a round pastry cutter, cut rounds and arrange them over the rhubarb mixture, overlapping slightly.
5. Brush tops with a little extra buttermilk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until fruit is bubbling and pastry is golden and risen. Cool for 20 minutes and serve with whipped cream, yoghurt or ice cream.