Summer Essentials: Berries Call for Shortcakes!

It's high season in Oregon for berries, folks, and while I don't have an argument with pies, crisps or cobblers—drop one off any time, really!—in my family's opinion there's no higher or better use for fresh berries than finishing a summer's feast with fresh berry shortcakes.

Simple, lightly sweet shortcakes.

The buttery, lightly sweet shortcakes, which can also do double duty as breakfast scones, come together quickly in a food processor. Shower them with a scattering of lightly sugared berries and a plop of whipped cream (or ice cream, depending on your druthers) to make these ephemeral seasonal delights shine.

Berry season calls for shortcakes.

Whether you've got raspberries, loganberries, blackberries, tayberries, strawberries, boysenberries, blueberries or—I know I'm forgetting some—a mixture of two or more, save a couple of pints out of your next flat of berries to make this startlingly simple and stunningly delicious classic.

Berry Shortcake

For the shortcakes:

2 1/2 c. flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) frozen butter or margarine, cut up

1/4 c. sugar

2/3 c. whole milk

For the berries:

2 pints berries

1/4 c. sugar (adjust according to sweetness of berries)

Whipped cream or ice cream

Preheat oven to 425°.

Put flour, balking powder, salt and sugar in bowl of food processor. Pulse four or five times to combine. Add butter or margarine and pulse several times until the mixture resembles cornmeal. With processor running, add milk in a stream. Keep processor running until the dough comes together in a soft mass.

Remove dough from processor, place on floured surface and form into a soft ball shape. Divide dough ball in half and gently pat out each half with your hands into six-inch disks (they will be about 1/2"-5/8" thick). With a butcher knife, slice each disk into six triangle-shaped wedges. On a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, place wedges slightly apart for crispier sides, touching for soft sides. I usually separate them by 1/8" and they puff up into wedges that break apart easily. Bake about 12 minutes or until tops are medium brown. Remove to racks to cool.

While the shortcakes are baking, put the berries into a large mixing bowl and add sugar. Using a spatula, gently fold the sugar into the berries. Allow to macerate for at least an hour (you can also place berries in the refrigerator until assembling). Using one wedge per serving, slice wedges in half lengthwise and place on individual serving plates or bowls. Scatter berries over the top and drizzle with juice that collects in the bottom of bowl. Top with whipped cream or ice cream as desired.

Counting My Blessings: Salads with Blueberries, Peaches

I will often begin dinners, not with the holding of hands and the saying of grace, asking the deity to please sprinkle holy fairy dust over the bounty of which we are about to partake, but with an apology. As in, "Please forgive me, my dear family members for whose digestive systems, indeed whose entire well-being, I am responsible for from now until I shuffle off this mortal coil, for I have no roughage or greenery to offer and thus have failed in my duties."

Or something to that effect.

A proper meal.

The guilt induced by these failings haunts me, brought up as I was was by the duty, indeed the holy orders, to build a pyramid based on the trinity of protein, carb and veg. Which means that often you will find me, while the casserole is baking or the chicken is roasting or the pasta is boiling, head down in the vegetable bin searching for anything that might allow me to be redeemed in the eyes of my family.

Peaches add a je ne sais quoi quality.

Recently that redemption has come in the form of little green hallocks of fruit brought home from the farmers' market, specifically some blueberries and peaches, that, when combined with leftover cabbage from tacos the night before or extra leaves not used in an escarole salad, gave me the benediction I was seeking.

Peach and Pepper Slaw with Mint

1/4 head green cabbage, sliced thin
1/4 head red cabbage, sliced thin
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1/4 c. Mama Lil’s mixed peppers, chopped
2 medium-sized ripe peaches, chopped in 1/2” cubes
2 Tbsp. chopped mint
1/2 c. olive oil
1 tsp. salt or to taste

Combine all ingredients in salad bowl and toss.

* * *

Blueberry, Cherry Tomato and Escarole Salad

1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 pint blueberries
1/4 finely sliced onion
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
Several leaves of escarole, roughly torn
Salt to taste

Put cherry tomatoes, blueberries, onion and vinegar in a zip-lock bag. Shake to combine and place bag in refrigerator for at least 30 min. to marinate. Remove from refrigerator and empty contents into salad bowl with torn escarole. Toss to combine. Adjust salt to taste and serve.

Gadget Guy Has A Purpose: Blueberry Sorbet

Call me slow, unobservant or simply (and perhaps more accurately) in denial, but I just realized a few months ago, after decades of marriage, that my husband is a gadget geek. It kind of snuck up on me slowly, because he doesn't buy a bunch all at once. They dribble in, one at a time every few months, each meant for a particular project. It doesn't seem like that much. At first.

The KitchenAid mixer was one he found on Craigslist for a steal, cherry-red and still in its original box, intended for his initial bread experiments. Handy for grinding meat or tomatoes, too, once we got the grinder attachment. Then he switched bread techniques, requiring the purchase of a few cast iron Dutch ovens, the better to get the kind of crusty artisan loaves he'd been dreaming of.

A soda streamer came at some point, to make soda water for cocktails and soft drinks with fruit syrups we'd made, then an ice cream maker, which he's used for sorbet and ice cream experiments. But it was the bright orange instant-read laser thermometer gun that finally got my attention, with its "pistol grip" designed to "accurately measure temperatures at a distance!"

That one I'm still trying to figure out, but I'm sure he had a good reason. After all, the other gadgets and doodads have certainly paid off in some delicious additions to our repertoire. It could be worse, right?

Dave's Blueberry Sorbet

2 pints blueberries
4 Tbsp. granulated sugar
4 Tbsp. mild-tasting honey
1 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest

Place all ingredients in a blender* and purée until smooth. Put a fine-mesh sieve over a medium-sized mixing bowl and, working in batches, press the purée through the sieve with a spatula. Place the mixture in the refrigerator and chill for at least an hour, then follow directions on your ice cream maker to process the sorbet.

* Some sorbet recipes call for adding a pinch of salt before puréeing, but it's terrific without.

Garden 2012: Blueberries, Peas and Leafy Greens

The blueberries were the first to go in, a selection that included Duke, Blueray, Earliblue and a mature Bluecrop bush from a friend who was removing a few of hers. I'm hoping to baby the young bushes through the summer, though it'll be a year or two before they start to bear fruit. But we should be in for a haul assuming they all survive.

After getting the blueberries settled into their new homes, I poked sugar and snap peas along the chain link fence behind them. It took about a week, but with regular watering and a string of warm, sunny days, they began to pop out of the soil and wrap their little tendrils around the fence wire.

This year I'm dedicating the raised beds to salad greens and carrots, planting rows of individual varieties rather than combining the seeds from the packets and sowing them in large patches. As usual, I got a little overzealous in my selection, ending up with mixed mesclun, arugula, two types of oak leaf lettuce, red velvet lettuce, romaine and a fascinating sounding Australian Yellowleaf. Who could resist?

My plan is to pick the baby and mid-size greens to thin them, then let some mature into heads. About half the second bed will have eight rows of carrots, an orange Yaya hybrid that's purported to be sweet and crunchy, and a sweet purple variety called Purple Haze that grew well last year, tasted great and looked really impressive with other roasted roots.

Coming soon will be tomatoes and kale, though they may have to wait till after the beginning of June to go in. At least the soil will be warm enough by then…I hope!

Smooth Move

I tend to fall into ruts, especially when it comes to breakfast. Toast and coffee are my default, which is no ho-hum solution when it includes Dave's most excellent sourdough bread and some of Carol Boutard's crazy-good preserves, not to mention Trailhead Roasting's impeccably roasted coffee.

But this time of year there's usually a partial hallock of berries from the farmers' market sitting around, leftover from shortcake or some other goodness, and a big tub of Nancy's yogurt in the fridge. Throw them in a blender and it's like hitting the ejector button on an F-14A Tomcat when it comes to getting out of that breakfast rut.

Blueberry Smoothie

1 c. plain yogurt
1/2 c. blueberries or other fruit
1/2 banana
1/2-1 tsp. sugar, or to taste (optional)

Put all ingredients in blender and blend till smooth. Stop blending and scrape down sides of blender. Pulse again to combine. Pour into 10-oz. glass and prepare for takeoff!

Peachy!

Last weekend was unusual for us in that we had commitments every evening, something we normally try to avoid since we're more in the "homebody" category than the "party animal" section of the social library. But it was all good, from hanging with Armandino Batali of Seattle's Salumi at Foster & Dobbs on Friday to dinner with good friends on Saturday to a knock-out dinner with the bro' and w- on Sunday.

And, since a couple of desserts were going to be needed and I was covering the Hillsboro Farmers Market for next week's column in the Oregonian, I picked up ten pounds of ripe, juicy peaches from VanDyke Farms. With those luscious peaches perfuming the car, it was all I could do not to grab one and slurp it on the drive home, but stickiness is not one of my favorite things, so the box made it back to the house unscathed.

The first dessert was a variation on the cobbler recipe I posted earlier, substituting peaches for berries. The second was a peach and blueberry crostata that absolutely rocked, and is one I'll be repeating with all kinds of fruits as the season goes on.

Peach and Blueberry Crostata
adapted from Bon Appetit's Outdoor Entertaining

For the crust:
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. hazelnuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. plus 3 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter
1/4 c. ice water (approx.)

For the filling:
5 large, ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
1 c. blueberries
3/4 c. sugar, plus more for sprinkling
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Blend first five ingredients in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter in chunks, pulsing until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in enough water to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hr.

For filling, place peaches and blueberries in large mixing bowl and gently combine with sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon.

Roll out dough on floured work surface into 15-inch round. Transfer to prepared baking sheet, centering it atop a nonstick tart pan bottom. Brush dough with egg white, then mound peach filling in center, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border. Fold dough border over filling, pleating loosely and pinching any cracks to seal. Sprinkle crust with sugar.

Bake crostata until crust is brown and filling bubbles, about 55 minutes. Cool tart 15 minutes on rack, then slide metal spatula under edges of crostata to loosen. Transfer to platter.