She Said (4) - Mixed Berry Shortcake

If you recall my husband and I are having a bit of a contest with each of us using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. In total there will be 12 recipes, 6 of his choosing and 6 of mine. The contest ends August 31 so the first week of September I will post a poll where you can vote for the meal you liked best. The rules are all the ingredients must be used but the amounts can be altered.

Pickerel Dinner

We eat a fair amount of pickerel simply because we have a lot of it between what I catch and what friends give us. My preferred method of cooking pickerel is pan frying. The thin filets fry up quickly so even with serving with steamed vegetables the meal takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. The pickerel was lightly seasoned with garlic pepper served with steamed new potatoes and steamed string beans.

Method for Steaming Vegetables: Place one inch of water in a sauce pan. Place the prepared vegetables in the steamer basket and put it into the saucepan. The basket should not touch the water. Place lid on saucepan. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce heat to just maintain the steam. Steam vegetables until just al dente with the exception of root vegetables that should be steamed until just tender. Remove from heat and serve.

Shortcake

We do not eat a lot of desserts so I thought it would be interesting to choose a dessert recipe Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book as one of my contest recipes. Pictured is the shortcake portion of the Mixed Berry Shortcake I decided to make. Ontario berries are in season which influenced my choice. I used organic sugar and unbleached flour in this recipe.

Mixed Berry Shortcake
source: Meredith Corporation, Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005. Pp. 430

6 c sliced fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and/or blueberries
½ c sugar
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ c butter
1 beaten egg
⅔ c milk
1 c whipping cream, whipped

Grease a 8x1½-inch round baking pan. Mix the berries and ¼ c of the sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Combine the remaining sugar, flour and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg and milk. Stir into flour mixture just enough to moisten. Spread the dough into prepared pan. Bake at 450ºF for 15 to 18 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cook in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. [Split into two layers and spoon half of berries and half of whip cream over the bottom. Place top layer and top with remaining whipped cream and berries. Cut into wedges. Serve immediately.] Modified to: Spoon berries over the shortcake. Top with berries. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Whipped Cream [my method]: Place cold whipping cream in chilled bowl of stand mixer. Whip until the cream forms soft peaks. Mix is ½ tsp vanilla and 2 tsp organic sugar. Serve.

Mixed Berry Shortcake

The shortcake portion of this dessert is very heavy and dense yet surprisingly quite tasty. It paired nicely with the lighness of the berries and whipped cream. The shortcake could easily be baked on the grill rather than in the oven as well.

Pictured is the entire desert before cutting into wedges. This is a dessert I would make again with one modification. Once the dessert is assembled any left-overs will not keep easily. To remedy thisI would spread the shortcake mixture into the bottoms of large muffin tins to make 6 individual serving sized portions. An alternative solution is to make the shortcake in the round pan and cut it into wedges then just top the desired number of wedges rather than the entire shortcake.