Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Yes, it was a great day -

With one small disappointment -

Yesterday morning I got up "early" - in time to watch the "pre-festivities" - awesome to see all those people on the Mall - everyone looked to happy and excited.

Set up the VCR (yes, some of us still have VCR's) on the bedroom TV so I could record the events of the day for The Shepherd.

Watched the ceremony, puttered around a bit - went in and checked the VCR - Shut it off, because it was just TV guys blabbering - Rewound it to see how the recording looked - puttered around some more - by this time, the parade was on and decided that The Shepherd might like to see some of the parade - so I went back into the bedroom and hit "Record" (keep in mind that I had rewound it a bit....)
I made a nice dinner of baked salmon and potato rounds and made Inauguration Cobbler for dessert. We sat and watched the video of ALL the "whobodies" coming out onto the ceremony platform and just as Diane Feinstein said - "And now may I introduce Aretha Franklin to sing "America the Beautiful" - my video recording flipped over to the parade. I had recorded over THE WHOLE CEREMONY - I can't tell you how disappointed I am (and how disappointed the Shepherd was - I found bits and pieces on-line, but he wouldn't watch them). So that pretty much ended our evening - but here is the recipe for "Inauguration Cobbler"

INAUGURATION COBBLER
Makes 6 - 8 servings
For the filling:
8 cups frozen fruit - I used a bag of peaches, a bag of mixed fruit - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries and a couple cups of frozen cherries - thawed and drained into a colander
1 cup granulated sugar plus 2 or 3 tablespoons to shake over the crust before baking
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus (you could use Pumpkin Pie spice)
1/4 cup apricot jam mixed with 1/2 cup hot water (to melt it) - or if there is enough juice from your frozen fruit use that - but my fruit was not very juicy
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into small pieces

For the crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Crisco shortening
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. To make the filling, arrange the fruit in an even layer in the prepared baking pan. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon plus. Whisk in the water mixed with the apricot jam (or peach juice) until smooth. Pour the mixture over the peaches. Sprinkle the butter over the top. Set aside.
4. To make the crust, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add the shortening and butter, then use a pastry blender or gloved hands to work them into the dry ingredients until the mixture forms pea-sized lumps.
5. Slowly add the water, adding enough and mixing only until the dough holds together. Do not over mix.
6. Place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Roll out the dough into a rectangle slightly large than the baking pan and about 1/4 inch thick.
7. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper. The dough then can be cut into strips and woven into a crust over the cobbler or for an easier crust, invert the crust onto the baking pan and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Trim the crust to fit just inside the edge of the pan and make a couple of slits in the top. Sprinkle with 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar.
9. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until the crust is golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe adapted from the Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop in Chicago where Barack Obama had some in 2001 and proclaimed it very tasty.

The next time, I will use just peaches or just cherries - The Shepherd said it had "too many fruit flavors" for him. Oh, well. It was pretty.

5 comments:

Nancy K. said...

You worked so hard to make everything special for the Shepherd! I hope he at least appreciates your efforts! The cobbler DOES look wonderful. WAY too much like work for me though....

;-)

Leigh said...

Oh YUM! What a wonderful way to celebrate!

Sharon said...

I missed all the TV coverage because of commute and work, but my heart is singing the same song. I did get to see the inaugeral concert and it was oh-so-good. Bob Marley's "One Heart" - okay, I was leaking before that, but that's where I gave up and just cried. Wait, I started crying with James Taylor. Pete Seeger was the icing on the cake. Yeah, I cried then too.

Dave said...

Well, I am sorry that your day did not finish up on the high note that it began. I know how excited you were about this... BTW, I'll take the cobbler next time if the Shepherd doesn't like it :)

Kathy said...

Thanks for sharing the Cobbler recipe! I love them and will make it as soon as my new fridge gets here! (tomorrow)
Gosh, I've missed talking with you this week. We are having rain and fog - WooHoo! I am so jazzed to be out in it. It's refreshing!

Tell the Shepherd to be quiet and enjoy the cobbler. He's lucky to have you! :)