Put your berries in a betty

Now that the berries have come on, try this old favorite with blueberries or blackberries. Raspberries are too intense unless you mix them with another, milder fruit. Other summer fruits work great, too, including rhubarb and plums. This version uses half the topping of the original recipe. The result has less fat and fewer calories, and the flavor of the fruit comes through much better.

Fran's Betty

4 cups fruit, such as berries, sliced apples, peaches, rhubarb, canned pie cherries
1/2 cup sugar
3/8 cup flour (6 tablespoons, or 3/4 of 1/2 cup); since the amount is not critical, you can eyeball it
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt
1/4 cup cold butter

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Wash, peel and slice or chop the fruit as appropriate and place it in a 9-inch pie plate or dish.
For the topping, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter. Alternatively, combine the topping ingredients in a food processor.
Sprinkle the topping over the fruit. Bake about 45 minutes. Some of the fruit will ooze through the topping and the remaining topping will be browned and crisp.
Serve warm or cold, plain or with cream.
Serves 6

Adapted from The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1970

Whatabrunch

Today Marcus from Vienna, one of Robert's teachers at German summer school, came over for brunch. It was fun for me, because I didn't have to cook. All I did was chop, slice and arrange. We had

whitefish salad
an apricot coffeecake from Jaciva's
three-seed bread from Grand Central Bakery
wine-cured salami
sopressata salami
Old Amsterdam aged gouda
Appenzeller, a firm, semi-robust cheese from Switzerland
Ranier cherries
Strawberries
Fruit salad of mango, nectarines, orange and reapberries with lime juice and honey
dry black olives with Provencal herbs
moist green olives with Provencal herbs
picholine olives
vegetables: carrots, red pepper and sliced dill pickle
coffee (Torrefazione)
home-made butter (see Real Milk)

And a fine time was had by all.