Fresh Peach and Gingercream Shortcakes

(photo from epicurious.com)

Saturday was the great day of the brisket in the Riker residence - I will post the recipe soon, I promise, but first feast your eyes and taste buds on this. John picked this out from the August Bon Ape and it was great. The recipe was super easy to make and the results were scarfed down quickly. I will admit to not bothering with the crystallized ginger (I just assumed that it wasnt going to be found in these parts) so I substituted with ground ginger and the result was super subtle, yet tasty. I'm not a huge fan of peaches, so we also had strawberries around.

ingredients::

2 cups all purpose flour
13 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled salted butter, diced
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger, divided
1/2 cup ginger ale
3 tablespoons plus 1 1/4 cups chilled heavy whipping cream, divided
4 large peaches,halved, thinly sliced

preparation::

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, 6 tablespoons sugar, and baking powder in large bowl. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until very coarse meal forms (oatmeal-size flakes). Mix in 1/4 cup chopped ginger. Add ginger ale and 2 tablespoons cream. Toss until moist clumps form. Gather dough into 7-inch log. Cut crosswise into 6 equal rounds. Place on sheet, spaced apart. Shape each into 21/2-inchdiameter round. Mix 1 tablespoon cream and 1 tablespoon sugar in small bowl; brush over top and sides of shortcakes.

Bake shortcakes until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool on sheet.

Meanwhile, toss peaches in large bowl with 4 tablespoons sugar and remaining 1/4 cup chopped ginger. Whisk remaining 1 1/4 cups cream and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl to peaks.

Halve shortcakes horizontally. Place bottoms on plates. Top each with peaches, whipped cream, and shortcake top.

Jenny's Take on BPG's Chipotle Lime Shrimp

Hot, garlicky, spicy, delicious! This reminds me of my favorite appetizer at the Blue Point Grill. It is delicious serves with Judy and Mark's rice dish (on my blog) and a green salad with mangoes and cukes. (Inspired by a recipe from The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman.

To serve 4:

7 large garlic cloves, peeled
3 T. olive oil
1-2 chipotle peppers (canned, but use as little adobe as possible)
a couple of pinches of dried chipoltle pepper flakes
6 scallions, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 c. cilantro without any thick stems
2 lb. peeled shrimp
s&p
1/3-1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 c. white wine

With blade running, drop garlic cloves into food processor. When finely minced, stop f.p. and add oil, peppers, S & P, scallions, and cilantro and process until mixture is minced. Add some of the lime juice if mixture seems too dry.

Add green mixture to saute pan and add juice. Heat, stirring for a couple of minutes, and add shrimp. Cook until shrimp is pink, turning 2/3 of the way through. Add wine and more lime juice if you want it more juicy. Also could add orange juice if you want it juicier!

Farmstand Corn Fritters

Sometimes in the summer we eventually get a little tired of corn on the cob as a side dish. I'll make these fritters as a change of pace, especially if we're having a light main course.

If you're feeling really decadent, you can add cheddar cheese and chives (1/3 cup shredded & 2 tablespoons chopped, respectively) plus 1 tsp Dijon to the mixture. I've not tried that, but it's probably great.

Farmstand Corn Fritters
Cooks Country – August 2005
Makes 12 fritters

1 1/2 pounds fresh corn (2 large or 3 to 4 medium ears), husks and silk removed
1 large egg , beaten lightly
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornmeal
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 cup corn oil or vegetable oil, or more as needed

Method:
1. Using chef’s knife, cut kernels from 1 to 2 ears corn and place in bowl (you should have about 1 cup whole kernels). Grate kernels from remaining 1 to 2 ears on large holes of box grater (you should have generous 1/2 cup grated kernels) into bowl with cut kernels. Using back of knife, scrape any pulp remaining on all cobs into bowl. Stir in egg, flour, cornmeal, cream, shallot, salt, and cayenne.
2. Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Drop 6 heaping tablespoonfuls batter in pan. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Transfer fritters to plate lined with paper towels. If necessary, add more oil to skillet and heat until shimmering; fry remaining batter. Serve fritters immediately.

lamb marinade

I found this in a very old edition of Joy of Cooking. It's really easy and really good. I've made it a few times. The book suggests that the marinade would be good for kebobs. I used it for 4 - 6 loin lamb chops, which I then grilled for 6 minutes on each side for medium.

• 1/4 cup olive oil (I used extra virgin)
• 2 TBS lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 ground black pepper (I just gave a good grind of the pepper mill)

Mix the ingredients together and marinate the meat for at least 3 hours, turning every so often. (I put everything into a zip-lock bag and tossed it into the fridge.)