Some Pig. (And Peach Cobblah with Sour Cream Ice Cream.)
So we’re part of this dinner club. Which sounds, I know, very grown up and Thirtysomething, but I assure you it’s not at all like that. There is plenty of sufficiently unsophisticated conversation/slapstick, and we try to push the themes a bit beyond Mexican and Italian (the internet has killed the sport of tracking down authentic regional recipes) to things like vintage Kraft (complete with cheese-slice tablecloth and Jaws projected on the ceiling) and most recently, Deliverance. (For the sake of clarity and to avoid too much pig on the menu, it was expanded to Southern barbecue. Overalls and pigtails optional.)
This one was at Wade’s, who conveniently lives next door. He picked up a pig. I took pictures, but. The early-in-the-process ones are a little too anatomical. You can see the further-along ones.
He rubbed it with a blend of something or other and threw it on the barbecue, wrapped in foil, to cook all afternoon. Toward the end, he mopped it, rendering it a little lobsteresque. By dinnertime Mike called it pig butter. As it was carved, we stood around and watched drinking mint juleps out of jars and eating devilled eggs with tomato aspic. (OK, not so much the tomato aspic.)
There were hush puppies (sorry, I don’t have a recipe, but D said she’d show me how to make them and I’d be happy to relay that tutorial) and fried green tomatoes, and cheddar, bacon and fresh chive biscuits made from this recipe, that were stellar. I may have eaten three.
I was in charge of dessert. What else does one make for a southern barbecue than peach cobblah? Which, I figured, would make a fine vehicle for sour cream ice cream. I poked around for some recipes and came across one in an old Gourmet that called for boiling water to be added to the flour-sugar-butter mixture, which intrigued me enough to try it. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! It didn’t have the doughy heaviness I usually associate with cobblers – even the photo above makes me think of one that’s overly bready. This wasn’t. The dough was soft and easy to drop, and baked up crispy and light; it didn’t weigh down the fruit, nor sog out from its juices. I can’t wait to make this with fresh apricots, and blueberries, and plums.
Do you see that colour? It looks as if it was made with plums – the blush is from the skins, which were left on. Because really, who wants to peel peaches (have you tried it? it’s like undressing little round slippery pigs) and why would you, when the peel is something you’d eat under normal peach-eating circumstances? Many of the nutrients and much of the fiber is contained in the skins. Once cooked, you hardly know they’re there.
Confession: I made it again tonight. My aunt and uncle are visiting from Vancouver island, and I asked them over to help get rid of the second batch of sour cream ice cream that taunted me from the freezer. This time I tried to stretch six peaches out to feed nine people – I added two cups of blueberries and a handful of cherries to the fruit, and doubled the topping. It was still perfect.
Peach Cobblah
Feel free to swap some of the peaches for plums or fresh apricots. Adapted from the September 1999 issue of Gourmet
6 large peaches, cut into wedges
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cornstarchBiscuit topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3-1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter, cut into bits
1/4 cup boiling waterPreheat oven to 425°F. Toss peaches with lemon juice, then stir together the sugar and cornstarch (to get rid of any lumps), sprinkle over the fruit and toss, then spread in a glass or porcelain baking dish and bake in middle of the oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. (This is easy to do in the food processor – just transfer to a bowl before stirring in the water.) Add water and stir until just combined. Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfuls of topping over them – it will spread as it bakes – and return to the oven for 25 minutes, until bubbly and golden.
Sour Cream Ice Cream
Make this with a full cup of whipping cream and half a cup of half & half, or a cup and a half of 18% (coffee) cream – whatever you have. It’s worth a try with low fat sour cream, or full-fat plain yogurt (which has around the same fat as low fat sour cream).
2 cups full-fat sour cream, chilled
1 cup half & half
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 cup sugar or 1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla
pinch saltWhisk everything together and freeze in ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up, if you like.
July 05 2010 09:59 pm | dessert
Dianne on 05 Jul 2010 at 10:07 pm #
Julie! You are hilarious and wonderful. I have dinner club envy. Thanks for all the good food and good smiles.
Recipe for Delicious on 06 Jul 2010 at 5:49 am #
Amen on not peeling the peaches. Recipes make it sound like this easy and magical process, but I’ve never had any success. Just leaving them sounds fine to me.
Jealous of your dinner club!
bellini valli on 06 Jul 2010 at 8:05 am #
I am with Dianne and would love to belong to a dinner club. I suppose I need to start one in our fair city.
Stacey Snacks on 06 Jul 2010 at 8:16 am #
What’s in those pretty molds? the aspic?
I still can’t make any other recipe besides your brown butter fruit dessert. I love it!
Sue (London, ON) on 06 Jul 2010 at 9:29 am #
I really need to get myself an ice cream machine! YUM
Kathleen on 06 Jul 2010 at 9:43 am #
Yes please to the hush puppy recipe! I used to live in Virginia, and would travel through the Carolinas and always gorged on them when we went to seafood restaurants. They are amazing! I tried to make them when I first lived on my own, and just ended up with a bunch of burnt cornmeal dough lumps. A frying tutorial might be in order too… I always mess things up when I fry.
kristy on 06 Jul 2010 at 10:56 am #
Can i be your friend? please.then i can come eat your food. you make awesome stuff. Thanks for such a great blog.
Beverley M on 06 Jul 2010 at 11:54 am #
I will be buying an ice cream maker very soon and it is ALL YOUR FAULT. The extra weight I gain from that will also be your fault. Although, maybe I’ll be pregnant by then so I can blame it on the baby.
Except that it’ll be that kind of baby weight that sticks around for much too long to keep blaming on the baby-who-is-now-in-school.
Rose in Ohio (@RoseMillsOhio) on 06 Jul 2010 at 2:55 pm #
Made that sour cream ice cream yesterday with great expectations.
You’ll be glad to know, the finished product exceeded them all.
Thanks for another SWEET recipe!
Sarah Galvin (All Our Fingers in the Pie) on 06 Jul 2010 at 4:15 pm #
I was in dinner club for about 17 years with the same group! We had a lot of fun and memorable meals. I am going to get one together here, in Swift Current, come fall.
Sarah Galvin (All Our Fingers in the Pie) on 06 Jul 2010 at 4:15 pm #
Oh, meant to say, that my dinner club was in Calgary.
KC on 06 Jul 2010 at 7:46 pm #
I went to a piggie roast on the weekend too! The ribs were awesome! Can’t wait to try the cobblah and the biscuits!
Erica B. on 06 Jul 2010 at 9:18 pm #
Looks like one fantastic dinner Julie, thanks for giving us a peek. I have to make both the cobbler and the ice cream the next time we have company. Thanks as always for sharing (so so jealous that Wade is your neighbour!)
Michael on 06 Jul 2010 at 9:44 pm #
Hey – don’t mock the dinner club! Not even gently! My community here in Calgary has had one going for years, and it makes a good strong connection between neighbours. OK – the way we do it is a big sign goes up, and people sign up. You go to three dinners (each with three other random couples) and you host one (with three other couples). Host makes main, others make appy, salad, and dessert. Voila! You have just met 15 X 2 other people in your neighborhood. (This is really my way of trying to get an invite to your dinner club… and then I’ll invite you to mine!) Sounds like a good time – enjoy the julep(s).
JulieVR on 06 Jul 2010 at 9:47 pm #
Oh I don’t mean to mock dinner club – I was more mocking the grown-upness of my social life! I’m a huge fan of the dinner club – any kind.
Mrs.M on 07 Jul 2010 at 12:16 am #
Awwww….I love it! Makes me all nostalgic cause my dad’s family is from Kentucky, the Blue Grass state of horses and fences and bourbon and hushpuppies and catfish…not the backwoods rebel folks. Anyway! Seeing the Makers Mark and hushpuppies just made me miss my Kentucky cousins and wish I was sittin’ on a porch swing, chatting with my Aunt Sis about her literary club. Now, she loved hushpuppies! Everytime we would go to the Kingfish restaurant hushpuppies were always ordered.
Ah do love the south! Thanks for the memories!
Barb on 07 Jul 2010 at 3:00 pm #
Oooo I love the sounds of this bbq! (ok – maybe not the aspic so much)
miss v on 07 Jul 2010 at 6:16 pm #
you forgot to mention the after dinner fire with mountain fresh beer and the sweet sounds of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils… oooow, Jackie Blue…
A Seven Deadly Sins Dinner Party | dinner with Julie on 03 Oct 2010 at 11:49 pm #
[...] may have mentioned our dinner club in the past (remember the Southern feast with peach cobblah and sour cream ice cream? and the slightly less appetizing vintage Kraft party with processed cheese slice tablecloth?) [...]
Irm on 09 May 2012 at 6:59 pm #
Sour Cream Ice Cream…W.O.W…..so darn delicious!!!