Peach and Blackberry Cobbler

Kevin and I enlisted some of our talented friends (or “friendors”) to help with our DIY wedding. Jamie tried her hand for the first time at assembling wedding florals for our big day.  We had bridesmaids bouquets, groomsmen boutonnieres, and a few corsages for our immediate family.

NOTE: All non-food photos in this post were taken by the talented Rodney Ty Photography.

Since we were serving a family-style dinner and to keep conversations fluid, we decided not to have large floral centerpieces and just do bud vases.  That kept costs down and workload relatively minimal – I say “relatively” because it was still a ton of work for Jamie in a very short amount of time.

I spied some fun and inexpensive hexagon-shaped mirrors in the 2015 IKEA catalog, and bought as many packs as we could get our hands on (they were hard to find!).  We also got the clear vases and aisle marker bud vases from IKEA, which my newly minted mother-in-law spray-painted gold for us.  We didn’t have any trouble drinking enough cabs to be able to recycle those bottles into table number holders too.

Jamie and I took a couple of early morning trips to the Flower Mart in downtown LA a couple months before the big day to scope out pricing, what was in season, and what flowers looked good together.  We even bought flowers to do some test bouquets, as well as see how the flowers would hold up in warm weather.  After some trial and error, we found some winners.

However, when we did another scouting trip the week before the wedding, we had to scrap almost all of our ideas when we realized that most of the flowers we had in mind weren’t in season anymore. Jamie, Shou, and I went to the Flower Mart bright and early the day before the wedding and played everything by ear, based on price and color.  What we ended up purchasing was lisianthus, dahlias, pink misty, silver dollar for some greenery, and my one splurge – David Austin roses for the bride/bridesmaids bouquets.

We were so impressed with how gorgeous the bridal party’s florals came out, and loved the look of the bud vases.

As a thank you to Jamie and Shou and also an early birthday celebration for Shou, Kevin and I hosted them for dinner.  We made giant porcini-rubbed rib-eye steaks, fresh chimichurri, roasted parmesan cauliflower, roasted red potatoes, and garlicky roasted asparagus.  I also wanted to take advantage of stonefruit season for dessert. Jamie and Shou had gotten us ramekins as a gift, so I HAD to use them!  Here is the peach and blackberry cobbler recipe, as adapted from Martha Stewart (hers uses blueberries):

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 to 4 ripe peaches (1 1/4 pounds), cut into eighths
• 1 cup blackberries
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pinch of table salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Vanilla ice cream (optional, but necessary)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine peaches and blueberries in a bowl. Whisk together 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch. Add to the fruit and toss to combine. Set aside. Combine egg, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and cream in a bowl; whisk with a fork. Set aside.
2. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and remaining tablespoon sugar. Make a well in center of dry ingredients, and pour egg mixture into well. Using hands, slowly draw dry ingredients into wet ingredients, and work dough until just mixed together. Don’t overdo it!
3. Divide fruit mixture among four 8-ounce ramekins. Gently pat dough into 4 disks just big enough to fit on top of ramekins. After placing, brush dough with remaining melted butter. Place ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake until juices bubble up and crust is golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes. Serve hot, with ice cream if desired.

   

   Thank you again Jamie and Shou!!!