Nana camp part 4 - all about strawberries

strawberry half

Sweet juicy delicious strawberries!  All the things you can do with them.  We made shortcakes, and jam and lemonade and crisp and dipped them in chocolate and other yummy things.  We also tagged them with Washi tape flags

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a cake eater......not cupcakes either.  For as much as I like to eat I really would rather that cake go to Marie Antoinette Qu'ils mangent de la brioche".  Give me strawberry shortcake on the other hand and I'm in.  Pair strawberries with rhubarb and I'll wait in line for it.  Add a crisp topping and I am in dessert heaven.  Well then you can always dip a perfect strawberry in dark chocolate...............

Reina and Gabriela have this beautiful strawberry patch in the back yard

so we are waiting until they get ripe for our next semester of camp

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First recipe: Strawberry shortcakes:

Individual strawberry shortcakes.  Paula Deen

Ingredients:

1 quart strawberries, hulled and quartered

sugar...1/4 cup + 3 Tbs  + 8 tsps

2 cups AP flour ( I always use King Alfred Flour)

1 Tbs baking powder - yes girls this is the leavening in this pastry

1/2 tsp salt

8 Tbs ( 1 cube) butter, cold and cubed

half and half   2/3 cup   + 1/4 cup

whipped cream - sweetened optional

garnish...I chose dark chocolate....Paula calls for mint leaves

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a medium bowl toss the strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar and set aside..

In a food processor toss together the flour, baking powder, salt and 3 Tbs sugar

Add cubed butter and blend until it is the consistency of corn meal

Place in a large mixing bowl.  We'll do the rest of the mixing by hand

Make a ball of the mixture and make a well with your fist.

Add 2/3 cup half and half and mix with a rubber spatula or fork.  DO NOT overmix or you will have a rock not a biscuit

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over itself a couple of times until it just holds together. Pat the dough out to 3/4-inch thickness and cut out 8 round 3-inch biscuits.

Transfer the biscuits to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of each biscuit with the remaining half-and-half and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon sugar ( I use sparkling sugar- it sparkles more) ). Bake in a preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and are a light golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Split each biscuit, spoon some strawberries on the bottom piece, then whipped cream and top with the other biscuit half. Garnish chocolate shavings or mint leaves and more strawberries.

shortcakes out of the oven

strawberry shortcake with Washi tape flag

Next project 

Strawberry Rhubarb jam:

This recipe is from Marisa McClellan  Here's her Food in Jars blog

Small Batch ( all Marisa's recipes are small batch) Strawberry rhubarb jam

Ingredients:

1 pound strawberries

1 pound rhubarb

1 1/2 cups sugar

Method:

Strawberries: rinse, pat dry, and cut into smaller pieces

Rhubarb: cut into 1/2" pieces

In a large bowl combine strawberries and rhubarb pieces; pour sugar over and mix.

Let stand at least 1 hour to get fruit juices to release

For small batches a wide (10" or 12") sauté pan is best for cooking and reduction.

Bring to a rapid boil and then reduce heat to simmer.

Cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until a large spoon can "part the read sea" successfully

Can or keep in fridge.

If canning bring a water bath to boil and process 10 minutes

Will make 3 half pints.  That's 3 cups total.  I said it was small batch

Everyone knows what a jar of jam looks like but look at this:

Reina put hers on waffles the next morning and topped it with more strawberries:

Strawberry rhubarb jam on a waffle topped with whipped cream and more strawberries

Since I had rhubarb I made a strawberry rhubarb crisp:

strawberry rhubarb crisp

Here's the recipe:

Ina Garten's strawberry rhubarb crisp

Ingredients:

4 cups rhubarb ( about 4 good sized stalks) cut into 1" pieces

4 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

Sugar  - 3/4 cups for filling, 1/2 cup for crisp topping

1 1/2 tsp grated orange zest

1 Tbs cornstarch

1/2 cup orange juice

1 cup AP flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup oatmeal

12 Tbs( 1 1/2 cubes) cold butter, cubed

Ice cream or whipped cream for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 deg

For the fruit, toss the rhubarb, strawberries, 3/4 cup of the granulated sugar and the orange zest together in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch in the orange juice and then mix it into the fruit. Pour the mixture into an 8-by-11-inch baking dish and place it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

For the topping, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture is in crumbles. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit, covering it completely, and bake for 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream

Note: The topping usually makes enough for 2 crisps.  I use what I think is right and then pop the remaining in the freezer to use later.

Next up  Strawberry lemonade:

strawberry lemonade

Here's a recipe from Ree Drummond

Makes 12-14 servings

ingredients:

2 pints strawberries, hulled and halved- a pint is just about a pound

3 cups sugar - or sweeten with Agave

2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice - 8-10 lemons

Method:

In a blender or food processor, puree the strawberries with 1 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of water.

In a large container, mix together 11 cups water, the remaining 2 cups sugar, the lemon juice and the strawberry mixture. Stir and taste, adding more sugar if you like. Refrigerate until well chilled.

Last but not least:

Dipped strawberries

We all love chocolate  dipped strawberries but these girls brought it to a new level:

We added white chocolate, coconut, sprinkles

dipped strawberries, mis en place

Here's the recipe:  Ina Garten's chocolate dipped strawberries

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2 Tbs heavy cream

12 long stemmed strawberries

Method:

Melt the chocolate and cream together in a bain Marie or double boiler until just melted. Stir and remove from the heat. Dip each strawberry in the chocolate and set aside on waxed or parchment paper to dry.

And here are Reina's and Gabriela's masterpieces:

dipped strawberries

I think they made a lot more of these after we signed off

Well land now for the information learning part of Nana camp:

Propagation- the breeding  of a plant (or animal) by natural processes from the parent stock resulting in exactly the same plant---no GMOs here

We learned how to propagate a strawberry plant by planting the roots of a runner into it's own soil because next year we want even more strawberries.

Theme for 2 weeks - strawberries   Word of the theme--propagate.

Nana Camp 2020