strawberry rhubarb cobbler.

there are some things that are worth being particular about. red strawberries are one of them. it’s a sad thing indeed to bite into a piece of fruit masquerading as a strawberry and find the inside hard and white and the fruit sour. holding out until strawberry season to sit down with a whole bowlful of heart-shaped fruit and no plans other than to devour each one is worth every minute of the wait. turning whatever you can’t devour straight away into a cobbler, well that borders on brilliance. on the list of things not worth being particular about? having a strawberry rhubarb cobbler come out of the oven running all over the place and staining your white dish towel. chalk it up to juicy strawberries or impatience and dig in with two spoons. hearty dollops of barely sweetened whipped cream make everything better. we ate ours on the steps of the church across from our apartment, our tiny space made far too hot from the heat of all that cooking to stand it a moment longer. two skillets and enough cobbler for dessert after lunch and dinner.

strawberry rhubarb cobbler
recipe adapted from mark bittman’s recipe for cobbler with blueberries. tweaking it a bit more might mean less juiciness, but as you know, i’ve decided not to be particular about a little extra juice.

2 cups strawberries, hulled and cut
2 cups rhubarb, sliced
1/2 cup sugar (i used a bit less)
8 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. heat oven to 375 F, toss fruit with half the sugar and spread into lightly greased pan(s)
2. in a bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and remaining sugar. add the butter and blend (bittman suggests a food processor, i used a pastry blender). beat in egg and vanilla by hand.
3. drop mixture onto the fruit by heaping tablespoons. bake 35-45 minutes until golden yellow (his words, not mine and perfect description, don’t you think?). serve straight away topped with copious amounts of homemade whipped cream.