Strawberry season may be over, but thoughts of those delicious red orbs haven’t left my mind. If you’re like me, you can’t resist buying strawberries at the market now that they won’t be in our shares any more.
I found this year’s early strawberries a bit tart for my taste. So instead of eating them straight, I sweetened them up a bit.
Strawberry sauce:
1 pint strawberries
1T. sugar
Slice strawberries into pieces. Sprinkle with sugar and combine. Let sit, refrigerated, for a few hours.
This strawberry “sauce” can be used on pancakes and waffles in place of syrup, and is scrumptious on vanilla ice cream.
I also made a strawberry rhubarb cobbler. Tart and sweet, it’s relatively easy to prepare and a tasty treat.
The Best Recipe Cobbler with Biscuit Topping:
18 oz. strawberries, with medium and large berries cut in half and small berries left whole
6 stalks rhubarb, outside layers peeled, ends removed, and cut in 1/3″ pieces
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 T. sugar
8 T. unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4″ pieces
4 T. vegetable shortening, chilled
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix fruit, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla together. Using rubber spatula, scrape fruit mixture into 9-inch deep pie plate and cover with foil. Bake until fruit begins to release liquid, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, place flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tablespoons sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Scatter butter pieces over mixture, tossing to coat with dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients with five 1-second pulses. Add shortening; continue cutting in until flour is pale yellow and resembles course cornmeal (about four more 1-second pulses). Turn mixture into medium bowl.
Pour 1/3 cup milk over flour mixture. Mix with rubber spatula until scrappy dough ball forms, adding more milk 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed. Turn the mixture onto lightly floured surface and knead just until the dough comes together. Press or roll the dough into a disk about 9 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 10 or 11 small stars or rounds (I used hearts) with a cookie or biscuit cutter.
After 15 minutes, remove baking sheet with pie plate from oven, uncover pie plate, and stir fruit to combine. Arrange dough over top of fruit. Brush tops of dough pieces with 1 tablespoon milk and remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Return pie plate on baking sheet to oven. Bake until top is nicely browned and fruit is bubbly, about 25 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes in pan before serving. (Cobbler can be kept at room temperature for several hours and reheated just before serving.)
Yum!
Forest Hills CSA 