Cobblers

It’s cherry season here in Provençe. Cherries are plentiful and cheap in the markets. Better still, cherries are plentiful and FREE if you’re prepared to go scrumping.

Just down the lane from our house, there are four very old cherry trees lining the driveway to a farm. We observed the trees with interest as they flowered and as tiny fruits appeared and gradually grew and ripened.

We continued to observe with ever-growing horror as the fruit started to over-ripen and drop off, making a vast purple stain on the driveway beneath the trees. Surely they will be picked soon, we said.

Birds of all sorts converged on the trees and gorged on the fruits, taking flight any time we passed by with the dogs. Surely they won’t let the birds get all the fruit, we said.

Sickened by the tragic waste of Cerisial life, we decided to provide a better fate for a select few lucky fruits. I took to filling my pockets with cherries (messy) first thing in the morning when I took the dogs out. We had cherries and yoghurt for breakfast most mornings. Yum.

Still the cherries fell off the trees by the hundred, carpeting the ground underneath, still the birds flocked to the feast. Finally, we could no longer stand idly by and watch such wanton waste. We waited until dark (just in case the owners of the trees wanted to keep all the fruit for the local crows) and made a late night raid whilst taking the doggies out for their final wee. Names shall not be mentioned, but it could have been any one of four people who actually picked the cherries.

A couple of weeks ago, Annette over at Aspen Meadows posted a recipe for a Berry Cobbler. Will that work with cherries? I asked. She assured me it would, so I set the crew of stoners to work (removing cherry stones, people, REALLY! What did you think?) while I mixed a cup of self-raising flour, a cup of sugar and added an egg.

I sprinkled a spoon of sugar and a spoon of flour over the cherries and stirred them around a bit. Then I spread the flour/sugar/egg stuff on top and poured two oz of melted butter over the whole lot.

Annette said to cook at 170C for 45 minutes but our oven is uber-enthusiastic (180C? Easy peasy! I can do 200C no problem, look!!) so I put it on at 150C and it was still ready five minutes early, with a nice golden brown top.

Delicious served with Creme Fraiche (which I now prefer to ordinary cream. The Francification continues…)

Further cherries may or may not have been rescued from their destiny as bird-food since and further cherry cobblers may or may not have been made and eaten.

You’ll never get me to talk. My mouth is too full of cherries.