Delicious berries awaiting conversion to strawberry shortcake.
Prompted by a tasty looking quart of strawberries I picked up at the Greenmarket on Saturday, I've been eating shortcakes with various fruit. Saturday evening I made my favorite shortcake recipe (Shortcakes for strawberries and other fruit) and had two biscuits worth of strawberries and whipped cream. I garnished with some fresh basil and that added a delightful touch. Sunday I had biscuits left, but no more strawberries, due to my greedy eating Saturday. So I took some frozen wild blueberries (usually reserved for pancakes and smoothies), thawed them and tossed them with a bit of sugar. What do you know?! Blueberry shortcake (this time garnished with fresh mint) is pretty tasty too.
So last night I was going to use some frozen peaches I had, but then I spied some California peaches in the market that seemed soft and smelled pretty good. Alas, they didn't have much flavor, even after maceration with sugar and basil for an hour. My third batch of shortcakes was a bust. The biscuits had gotten too soft and mushy, the peaches were flavorless (reminding me again why I only buy local fruit in season), and the whipped cream was good. You can't screw up whipped cream, can you?
I think I may be on the verge of a shortcake bender though. It was so good (and healthy, right? All that fruit, and the calcium from the cream?) and easy and tasty. I want some kind of fruit and shortcake dessert every night!
We are beginning to stockpile local fruit as it comes into season and freeze it in small batches for future consumption. I froze blueberries, raspberries and cherries last year, all of which lasted well. We’ve also done the same thing with veggies over the last couple of years with good results.
Our favorite way to eat strawberries these days is with a dollop of creme fraiche.
Hi Meg: I am loving the berries right now! The Oregon berries are just coming ripe, and this morning I cringed knowing the driving rainstorm we were having would be hard on the delicate berries.
Last week we posted Robert Reynold’s recipe for genoise with strawberries and a link to a YouTube film that shows him cooking it up (and rolling it up), so in the slim chance you tire of shortcake — but manage to keep the strawberries on hand — you might check it out on Culinate.
I recently made a strawberry-cherry shortcake with dark chocolate shavings.. sooo good. I thought about blueberry, like you mentioned..I’m gonna have to try that soon.
Actually, strawberry shortcake Ohio-farm-style isn’t bad for you at all. The cakes are not cakes, but warm baking powder biscuits split in half, the strawberries are lightly sugared if sugared at all, and you pour cold milk on the whole thing. Oh, and have a little plate of sliced cheddar at your side. A lovely main course on a warm early summer night.