Blueberry Shortcakes

photo courtesy of E.Hom (She cooked it and I took the picture!)

A lil birdie told me to try this super easy recipe for Blueberry shortcakes. The secret ingredients are lime juice and coconut milk... I woulda never guessed it!


The discovery of this tasty recipe happened when my sister and my niece were flipping through a magazine. And what once was a Mother's day treat has turned into a weekend brunch treat.  It's easy when you have all the ingredients, but I'm pretty sure that I ran to the store for vanilla extract and may be a lime or two. (I tend to get two because when I got one once and it turned out to be dried out. I had to weigh skipping it or going out to the store a-gain!)


I'm giving full credit to my super sister on this one. I don't even want to get in to the disaster that was when I tried to make it... Let's just say, the shortcakes were dry, the blueberry sauce was runny and... *brace yourself* I substituted cool whip for the whipped cream--I usually always prefer homemade whipped cream versus the cool whip.

Blueberry Shortcakes

SHORTCAKE:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

4 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

3/4 cup heavy cream (If you dare, use about a 1/4 or 1/2 cup of coconut milk instead of heavy cream.)

1 egg slightly beaten

1 tsp of vanilla

lemon (or lime) zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor. Pulsate everything in 3-second intervals until everything resembles coarse meal. (Again, no food processor, just mix by hand meaning use your hands!)

Transfer everything to a large bowl. Stir in heavy cream, egg, vanilla, and lime zest mixing the dough by hand until it forms into a uniformed and slightly moistened dough. On a floured surface, scoop out half the dough and form a ball. Flatten the dough until your disk is approximately 3/4" in height. Press down the outside of the dough circle so the center is slightly taller. (If you need pictures, you should refer to the link at the end of this entry.)

Cut each circle in quarters. You should have enough dough to make 8 shortcakes total. Bake for 15 minutes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or on an ungreased cookie sheet. Remove the shortcakes from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. While shortcakes are cooking, prepare the blueberry sauce and whipped cream.

BLUEBERRY SAUCE:

2 cups of blueberries (I think my sister's also tasted better because she was using fresh instead of frozen.)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

fresh juice from 1 lemon or lime (whichever you used for the zest)

Cook blueberries, sugar, water and lime juice on medium high heat for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. (The thing that I don't like about working with frozen fruit is the extra wetness that comes with it. If you've ever had your sauce turn runny and watery, it's probably because I didn't drain or press the fruit before I used it in the sauce. I might try eliminating the water part of the sauce recipe and add as needed.)

WHIPPED CREAM:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, make a batch of sweetened whipped cream by whipping heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer or by hand with a whisk until your cream has formed peaks.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

Slice each cake in half horizontally. Place the bottom half on a plate. From there layer everything. Start by adding a couple spoonfuls of blueberry sauce on top of the cut side of the cake. Next add a dollop of whipped cream and then place the other half of the cake on top. Finish the shortcake off with a couple more spoonfuls of blueberry sauce and another dollop of whipped cream.

Inspirational link:

http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/06/blueberry-shortcakes/ 

Sundance Cafe (Sacramento, CA)

A while back I was talking about a shrimp melt that I had in Seattle... Well, I had to put it up against my local favorite, Sundance Cafe's Shrimp melt. They'll always do it up right for me. I've seen this place go through about three different menus. And I remember this shrimp melt was on the very original menu.

I'm not sure if they put mayonnaise on this one inch bread and I have to ask what kind of cheese they use. But it's just a few bay shrimp with cheese melted on bread. It's making my mouth water thinking about it.


More recently, my experience with Sundance Cafe has been with the lunch specials. I'm pretty sure this is the only place in a 2 block radius that does a daily soup all year round, and I appreciate it. My top lunch specials are:

FIRST, just know that I never know what I'm going to order when I walk in... My only usual order is the iced Mexican mocha--for some reason it's my favorite... I think because they use Ghiradelli chocolate in their mochas. Anyways, back to the food. I cannot tell you how deep rooted my love for Chicago dogs are. But they actually had decided to make Chicago dogs that day. (This will only be the second time I've wikipedia'd something on this blog.) 


If you don't know what's in a Chicago-styled dog, take a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_hot_dog 

Granted, it was the "Sundance version" of a Chicago but it was so delicious. I don't always like pickles, but when it comes a Chicago dog, it's just laying in the bun with the dog. Also, I like the wedges of tomato, and I like how Sundance substituted the "sport peppers" with pepperoncini peppers. Technically, it's not the same, but it still tasted good. And finally, their lunch specials always come with a side. This day was the bombest chili I've ever tasted. I think I loved it so much because it was chunky, a little sweet, giant red beans... mmm.


SECONDLY, I was in there recently and I got the chicken double-cheese quesadilla with a side of... wait for it... tomato bisque. It was the best combo one could think of. It's like having a grilled cheese with tomato soup. All you need is a side of guac and sour cream to the quesadilla (which I got)... And oh yeah, I dipped a quesadilla in my soup! It was sooo goood!

Now I don't have pictures of these devoured lunch specials, you'll have to check them out for yourself!
Sundance Cafe 455 Capitol Mall, Sacramento

Le Chicken Cordon Bleu

One Sunday, mi mamacita and I spent the whole morning watching PBS (public broadcasting station) cooking shows. One of our favorites is America's Test Kitchen. They lured me in with the recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu. It just seemed so easy!!


And it was... today my mom and I made Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was, in fact, really fun and easy!
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture to share, but I do have the recipe...

Foolproof Chicken Cordon Bleu
25 Ritz crackers (about 3/4 sleeve)
4 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
8 thin slices deli ham (about 8 ounces)
2 cups shredded swiss cheese (I used slices of swiss cheese and it worked just as well.)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds total)
salt and pepper
3 large eggs
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup all-purpose flour


1. MAKE CRUMBS Adjust oven rack to lowest and middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees. Pulse crackers and bread in a food processor until coarsely ground. (I don't have a food processor, so I usually place all the ingredients in a ziploc bag and roll a can over it a few times. You can also take a wooden spoon to it when it's laid out on the baking sheet and complete the crushing to the right consistency.) Drizzle in butter; pulse to incorporate.  Bake crumbs on rimmed baking sheet on middle rack, stirring occasionally, until light brown. 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to shallow dish and leave oven on.


2. STUFF CHICKEN Top each slice of ham with 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Roll into tight cylinder. (Tip: I rolled all my ham and cheese slices first. Then cut all the chicken slits so that you only wash your hands once.) Pat chicken dry with paper towel, season with salt and pepper. Using paring knife, cut into thickest part of chicken breast to create a deep pocket with opening of 3 to 4 inches. Stuff each pocket with two ham-and-cheese rolls and seal. Refrigerate chicken for at least 20 minutes before breading.


3. COAT AND BAKE Beat eggs and mustard in second shallow dish. Place flour in third shallow dish. One at a time, coat stuffed chicken lightly with flour, dip into egg mixture, and dredge in crumbs, pressing to adhere. Breaded chicken can be refrigerated, covered, for 1 day.) Transfer chicken to clean baking sheet. Bake on lowest rack until bottom of chicken is golden brown, about 10 minutes, then move baking sheet to middle rack and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until golden brown and chicken registers 160 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. Serve!

It's a lot easier than it sounds, I promise.