Sunday Supper

For Sunday supper this week, Eli whipped up some black bean hummus, Roquefort topped round steak, and a boxed couscous. It was quick and tasty, just what we needed after a long working weekend.

Marionberry Cobbler

Since I have a ton of fresh berries, a decimated larder, and not much money for cake fixings til after my paycheck, I made a Marionberry Cobbler last night. I don’t regret it for a moment. I am definitely of the no crust, biscuits/dumplings on top school of cobblers, as you can see. Since I couldn’t get a hold of my aunt for her fantastic cobbler recipe, I made this one I found at the Food Network site. I didn’t have any dark rum, so left it out, and it was delicious regardless. Don’t worry about cornmeal if you have none; it’s not essential. I might use buttermilk instead of regular milk next time—we’ll see. As it was, it works beautifully. Topped with Tillamook French Vanilla Ice Cream, it was a perfect summer dessert.

berry goo in buttered dish

topped with biscuit dough

finished cobbler

dished up with vanilla ice cream

Marionberry Crisp

berries in the dish

Eli: This is so easy that I’m just going to get right to it. All I am going to say is that as a younger child, crisps were one of my favorite desserts.

3 cp Marionberries (Schatzi is generous with her pints)
½ cup brown sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch
¼ tsp salt

crispy Marionberry Crisp

1 cp butter in ¼-inch cubes
½ cp brown sugar
½ cp flour
1 ½ cp oats
½ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and berries together in a bowl, being careful not to crush them—you’re already putting them through enough abuse in the oven. Place the mixture into an 8×8 baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine topping the ingredients until the mixture is incorporated and crumbly. I used a KitchenAid to do this but you can use a fork to get the same results in a little more time. Electric mixers are great too.

Evenly distribute the topping onto the berries and place in the oven on the center rack for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove when the top is browned, and let cool for 15 minutes before serving. I suggest serving it with a good vanilla ice cream.

Oregon Brewers Festival

That’s right, it’s still July and this is still Oregon, so if you haven’t been down to the Waterfront to check out the OBF, then what kind of Oregonian are you? 2008 marks the OBF’s twenty-first year of “celebrating the 21st Amendment” with tastings from seventy-two craft breweries in eighteen states. The OBF opened on Thursday, but you still have today and until 7pm Sunday to make it over to the Waterfront. There’s also music and food, and it’s only $5 for this year’s mug.

Marionberry Upside Down Cake, i

Last week, Eli and I, along with two of my sisters, took a trip out to Sauvie Island to pick berries. The U-Pick

Mairionberry Upside Down Cake

experience seems to be essential to a Portland summer; many people make a tradition of doing it at least once a year. For some, it is a way to return to childhood memories of growing up on or near farms, and for others it’s a novelty to see food growing in an up close and personal way, and/or a way to feel connected to local food production—if in a fairly superficial way. (I suspect there are quite a few of the latter here in Portland.) I don’t remember going to a U-Pick more than a scant handful of times during my childhood, and I’m fairly sure Hawai’i still has nothing in the way of a U-Pick, but I do have very fond memories of fresh summer fruits.

Growing up, I spent summers here in Portland with my father, stepmother, and sisters. (Sometime, ask us what Historic Irvington was really like before gentrification.) The neighbor in the house behind my dad’s had an enormous cherry tree. I don’t know what kind they were, but they were a deep red and delicious, only slightly tart, and perfect for pie. A few times a summer, the big kids would climb up onto the garage roof to pick cherries, and we would have an orgy of fresh cherries and cherry pie for a few days. Once, I accidentally swallowed an entire cherry whole—pit, stem, and even a small leaf.