Executive chef Josh Niernberg cooks on the line at Bin 707 Foodbar.
The Western Slope is known for its Palisade peaches. But the area also favors lavender, vineyards and wild sage. Josh Niernberg is the executive chef at Bin 707 Foodbar in downtown Grand Junction, where nearly half of the ingredients he uses in his restaurants are from the Western Slope. He’s a frequent advocate for chefs and restaurants outside the Denver metro. Here is Niernberg’s recipe for a perfect Palisade peach cobbler.
Bin 707 Foodbar Palisade Peach Cobbler With Bourbon Vanilla Sauce
Don't like bourbon? This recipe works equally as well using either a Rosé, such as Colterris' Canterris and Coral wines, or a sour beer, such as Odell Brewing's Friek, as substitutions.
Ingredients
Yields six, 1-cup cobblers
Batter
1 1/8 cup cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/18 cup milk
Puinch of salt
Peach Cobbler Filling
3 pounds Palisade peaches, halved and pitted.
1 1/3 cup sugar
12.5 oz bourbon
1 Vanilla bean pod, scraped
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Juice and zest of half lemon
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.
Add milk to the dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon until just combined. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
Cook peaches, sugar, 12 oz. of bourbon and vanilla over direct heat in a large sauce pot until tender, but not falling apart, and the alcohol has evaporated.
Mix cornstarch with remaining bourbon. Stir into mix.
Cook for another two minutes to allow mixture to thicken. Remove and let cool.
As the peach filling cools, strain through a chinois to collect excess juice from filling.
Reduce the excess juices to the consistency of syrup. Let cool and set aside for plating. This is your peach bourbon syrup.
Put a small pad of butter on the bottom of your cobbler dish (cast iron pot, stoneware bowl, cereal bowl, etc.).
Heat dish in oven until butter is melted and dish is hot.
Add 1 cup of peach filling, strain off any excess juices and reserve for the syrup.
Add 1/2 cup of batter on top of peaches.
Cook cobbler for approximately 20 minutes, until it is a golden to dark amber in color and the peaches are beginning to bubble through the batter. Remove and let cool slightly.
Garnish with peach bourbon syrup. Serve immediately.
Pro Tip: Serve cobbler "À La Mode" with favorite ice cream. Bin 707 Foodbar uses their house made Olathe Sweet Corn Ice Cream.
