I spent some time trying to figure out what to make for Arkansas. Vegan blogger and cookbook author Bianca is a native of Arkansas, and she has published many wonderful recipes from her upbringing. I was tempted by the Huckleberry Buckle on my cousin's partner's site, but huckleberries were not to be found. And then I discovered Arkansauce: The Journal of Arkansas Foodways. What to do, what to do?
I consulted with a friend who is both a native and a current resident of Arkansas, and he recommended strawberry shortcake. I am told that lots of strawberries are grown in Arkansas, and that there is a particularly famous shortcake served at the Bulldog Restaurant in Bald Knob. I had my mission, and I was willing to accept it.
I took a good pound of strawberries, and mashed half of them with superfine sugar to taste. I sliced the other half and stirred them into the strawberry sauce. Then, I made a batch of pie crust (1 1/3 c all purpose flour, 1 t salt, 2 t sugar, 1/3 c oil, 3 T milk), rolled it out, and cut it into strips. I placed the strips on parchment, brushed them with almond milk and sprinkled with a little more sugar. They went in the oven at 425 F until they were nice and brown. Simultaneously, I toasted some chopped pecans on another pan.
In bowls, I assembled: a few strips of pie crust, a scoop of vanilla ice cream (Almond Dream, as we had it in the freezer), a generous lot of strawberries, some vegan whipped cream (Rice Whip, in this case), and toasted pecans. Most excellent -- and very nice with the crispy strips of crust, which made for a quite different texture than the biscuit-type base I have had before.
2 comments:
I like the idea of cutting strips out of the pie crust dough and baking them.
whoa. what a devilishly great idea to use pie crust bits in strawberry shortcake.
Post a Comment