test cook

Yield 12 shortcakes

Food critic and restaurant gadfly Tom Fitzmorris's recent book New Orleans Food has been published to great success and well deserved applause. He offered us his most delectable recipe for strawberry shortcakes but we could not leave well enough alone. The addition of blueberries makes perfect sense. Raspberries or any fresh seasonal fruit would be delicious. Otherwise, the recipe is pure Tom: squishy and sweet inside, surprisingly tart with a crunchy exterior. How to order this must-have, also home-tested classic is posted below the recipe.
4 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1-3/4 cups half-and-half or whipping cream

2 pints fresh strawberries (blueberries, raspberries or any combination of seasonal fruit.)
1 pint whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Measure flour and sugar into a large bowl. Whisk to blend. Cut butter into flour mixture and stir in with a wire whisk until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. It's okay for there to be a few small lumps.

Blend in the half-and-half with light strokes of a kitchen fork. Continue lightly blending until the dough leaves the side of the bowl. Add a little more milk if necessary to work all the dry ingredients into a sticky, thoroughly damp dough.

Spoon out the dough with a tablespoon and drop biscuits about four inches in diameter and two inches high on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 14 minutes in the preheated 475-degree oven. Use the middle to top rack in the oven. They're ready when they lightly brown on the top. Don't look for a dark brown; that indicates overbaking.

Wash and remove the stem leaves from the strawberries. Slice them top to bottom about 1/4 inch thick.*

Whip the cream in a chilled metal bowl until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and continue whipping until no grittiness remains.

Slice the shortcakes in half. Spoon some whipped cream on the bottom half. Add sliced strawberries until they fall off the sides, and a little more whipped cream.


NOTE: Mom's secret marinade: Layer sliced, washed and hulled strawberries in a refrigerator container, sprinking each layer with a generous teaspoon of superfine sugar. Cover and allow refrigerate overnight. Drain the remaining liquid and reserve. Mash a strawberry or two into it. I'd be tempted to add a teaspoon of Chambord, a raspberry liqueur. Pour a tablespoon of the remaining liquid over the bottom cut half of the biscuit when assembling the shortbread. Drizzle some over the whipped cream or, as the chefs do, make a puddle on the plate and artistically arrange the bottom biscuit in it. A squeeze bottle of marinade will allow swirls, squiggles, zig zags and dots to decorate the plate.

Mother, whom by no one’s measure could cook, was a World War II bride much taken with the new convenience foods from cans and boxes. However, on occasion as a special excursion, we would visit the French Market for flats of seasonal strawberries. Each of us, her six children, were recruited to wash, hull and slice them into heart-shaped halves.

Her strawberry shortcake dazzled us. She was a wizard, we believed. Her secret was to sprinkle the sliced strawberries with granulated sugar, covering them to rest overnight in the refrigerator. We always kept the perfectly shaped ones for garnish or to dip into warmed store-bought chocolate sauce (who knew it could be prepared at home). The shortcake recipe came from the side of the Bisquick® box and the whipped cream squirted from a canister. The syrup remaining at the bottom of the strawberry bowl was used to moisten the shortcake. A really nice idea.

http://www.nomenu.com
New Cookbook!
New Orleans Food by Tom Fitzmorris--
225 Recipes To Cook At Home