West Windsor Farmers' Market

Sold another 20 copies of Farm Markets of Central New Jersey guide book at the West Windsor Farmers' Market on Saturday 8/14/2010. My entire family - including Amin, Natalie and Katherine - joined me in the effort. We enjoyed music and good food including smoothies, breakfast sandwiches and many nice people. It was a fun family outing and we went home with beautiful blackberries, fresh corn, mushrooms and amazing New Jersey tomatoes. Last night I prepared the most incredible berry cobbler!
The recipe feeds a crowd and as a result you need alot of delicious berries - 6 to 7 cups in total. Also you need a really big deep dish pan for baking the cobbler or it will overflow in your oven (trust me I've done that). Your pan should be 12" round by 2 1/2" deep - could be a large cast iron skillet. I've experimented with different baking pans and currently like using my round enamel coated Le Creuset roasting pan. I also think that based upon volume - which I've tested - this recipe will work well in a 9" x 13" (3 quart) Pyrex glass baking dish. There are three steps to the recipe and it may seem involved but trust me it's actually a snap to put together and the result so very beatiful, delicious and rewarding. You can prepare the crust and topping a day before serving and because the cobbler bakes for 1 1/2 hours plan to put it in the oven before your company arrives. Believe me it stays warm and delicious for a long time after coming out of the oven and looks gorgeous cooling on the counter.

Deep Dish Berry Cobbler
serves 12 or more

Crust
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup veg shortening
1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
4 tbs ice water (or more if needed)

Topping
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces

Filling
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 large eggs
6 to 7 cups fresh berries (blueberries, blackberries and or raspberries)
zest of one large lemon

Combine flour, sugar, b.p. and salt in a large bowl or the work bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse in to combine if using a food processor or work in with a hand held pastry blender or two knives until crumbly. Add water and blend in until moist clumps form. Gather dough in ball, pressing bits together, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Blend the first four topping ingredients together in the work bowl of food processor or with a pastry blender. Add butter and cut in until mixture is crumbly. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk sugar, flour and salt together in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, sour cream and lemon zest together in a large bowl. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients and fold in the berries.

Press the chilled crust into the baking pan using fingers and spreading evenly over bottom and up sides of pan. Spoon in the filling and sprinkle evenly with the topping. Bake in the heated oven for 1 1/2 hours or until top is golden and center cooked through and puffed. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature. Excellent with good vanilla ice cream!