Peach Cobbler, the Beach, Lizzie Borden, etc.

We’re in North Carolina at the beach with Chan’s family for the week.

Last week I was by myself at the Catskills cabin, unpacking, setting up the kitchen, wandering around outside (we have nearly 6 acres of mostly rocky woods) and setting up my basement office. (I don’t love calling it an office, the word evokes drudgery to me, so I’ve been sometimes saying “studio,” but that word sounds a little pretentious, but not as pretentious as “atelier.” Maybe just “study”?)

Chan and I had been there together the previous weekend. There’s still much to do, settling in-wise: deciding where to put stuff, figuring out what we need, we’ve never had so many rooms, cleaning, yard work. I’ve planted a few things, it’s too late in the year to start much, but I put in some azalea seeds which are sprouting, lots of herbs, which are going gangbusters as my mom used to say, and one Fresno chile plant and one tomato. We also made time to just slow down in the country; the nights are still cool enough to sit around the fire pit. On Monday, we got up at dawn, I drove Chan to Rosendale about half an hour away to catch the bus to work in the city, and then I stayed upstate for the rest of the week.

Friday, at the end of my week alone, I drove down to the city, picked up Chan, he took over the driving, and we headed south. We spent the night just south of D.C., left in the morning, and we arrived here around 4 on Saturday.

On the way down, once we were off the Interstate and onto the state highways that approach the shore, we kept a lookout for a farm stand. Last year we stopped at a place selling the most beautiful peaches—we bought a huge box of them—but we didn’t see it this time. As with anything to do with peaches, I don’t bother unless I can get really excellent peaches. They’re easier to find in the South, but last year, or maybe it was the year before?, we got some amazing New Jersey peaches. Luckily, and surprising to me, the Food Lion here, where we shopped for the week’s provisions Sunday morning, had great local, ripe peaches. I made a cobbler.

The last few years I’ve been making a sort of shortbread cookie cobbler topping that I like much better than the usual soft biscuit thing that I’m not a fan of (it gets doughy and gummy, and there’s always too much of it). Since I’d come more or less straight from Upstate, I didn’t have my recipe with me. The cookie thing is so simple I thought I could improvise, but instead of a crumbly shortbread texture I got more of a soft sugar cookie, which I liked even better.

On these family beach vacations, I stay in the house all day avoiding the midday sun while the rest of them sit on the beach and fry. I like the time alone in a place that’s not home, reading, napping, cooking. I join them later in the afternoon for happy hour.

Tuesday, I had a long, rangey, and really enjoyable conversation with Lizzie Borden expert and scholar, Stefani Koorey, for The Lizzie Borden Podcast. Stefani knows more about Lizzie and the Borden murders than anyone (her website, the Lizzie Andrew Borden Virtual Museum and Library, is truly peerless), and she’s a big fan of our musical, so the conversation was lively and very fun. It will be available to stream later this month. I’ll give you a heads up when it appears. I guarantee you will learn stuff. I sure did.

Here’s that recipe:

Peach Cobbler

peaches, about 12-15 depending on their size. You want enough
peeled and sliced for about 1-1/2” in a 9 x 13” baking dish
sugar
2 rounded tablespoons of cornstarch

Peel and slice the peaches (drop them in boiling water for about 20 seconds, then into cold water, and you can slide the skin off with your fingers) and mix with about 1/4 cup sugar, more if the peaches are tart. Stir in cornstarch and spread in a 9 x 13” baking dish.

Topping:
2 sticks of butter, very soft
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the flour and salt and mix until there’s no dry flour. I just used a big spoon.

Form the dough into balls and flatten them with your palms to about 3/8 - 1/2” discs. The dough is very loose, so the discs are kind of floppy to handle. They don’t need to be neat. Place them on top of the fruit to cover the top with space between them. Sprinkle sugar over the top.

Bake at 350 for half an hour, then at 400 till the fruit is bubbly all over and the topping is golden and set, probably another 10 - 15 min but watch it. Let it cool for at least 20 - 30 minutes before you serve it. I made it early in the day, and it was great later at room temp.

We had it with cream whipped with a little powdered sugar and vanilla.