paquin eats:

Creativity is at a low these days. Working in two restaurants, hearing nothing other than debt ceiling woes and constantly craving naps in between double shifts keeps me far away from the bliss of the kitchen. It even makes me dread the kitchen, dare I say. Yes, I, the one who sings annoying praises about the ease of summer cooking and fighting the urge to eat average food, have been avoiding the kitchen. And these days, it’s probably for the better.

But, alas, with friends coming home from overseas trips and a golden day off work, I figured I’d dust off the pans and have people over for drinks, food and mostly drinks (more on the drinks to come in another post). Earlier in the day, my mom printed out a recipe she saw for shortcakes — not a special recipe by any means, but the idea was there: summer fruits and cream sandwiched between two crumbly, buttery pieces of shortcake, earning points in the taste AND cute categories. Skipping that recipe, I went with an old favorite from (again) my favorite cookbook, Sunday Suppers at Lucques. You all might as well skip this blog and buy the book, but I’ll keep going anyway.

This is the type of recipe that allows me to pretend I have any kind of southern charm at all. Flour in the shortcakes is partially replaced with cornmeal, creating a sweeter, thicker dough, and what screams the south more than peaches? Yeah, sure, the mascarpone is a little bougie, but hey, I gotta stick to my roots somehow.

Cornmeal Shortcakes with Peaches, Mint and Soured Mascarpone

Look, I know I made this sound rosy and lovely, but I know many of you will be turned away by the length of the recipe alone. BUT, you know I would not lead you astray. Looking at the recipe is one thing, reading it is another. There’s nothing technically difficult about this recipe, it’s just a bit fussy (as many Suzanne Goin recipes are). I’ve rewritten parts of the recipe where I think Goin’s original steps could be streamlined. Also, as for the ingredients, yes, you could just as much use whipped cream or even CoolWhip in place of the mascarpone, but I’m telling you, the flavor of the mascarpone is worth it. As always with my recipes, if it saves you drama, do it how you’d like.

You can easily make the peaches a couple hours ahead of time, allowing them to macerate in the fridge. As for the shortcakes, the sooner you can make them to serving time, the better, as they’re prone to drying out. Just keep them wrapped in a towel in a moist place in the meantime.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup stone-ground flour (Bob’s Red Mill is great, but Quaker worked for me in a pinch)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided (3 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon)
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Peaches and soured cream (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.

Place the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and 3 heaping tablespoons of sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the butter, and pulse about ten times, to a coarse meal. With the machine running, quickly pour in 1 cup of the cream. Stop the machine immediately when dough starts to come together. (It is important not to overwork the dough).

Place the dough on a clean work surface and bring it together with your hands. Shape it into a circle 1 1/4 inches thick. Cut the circle in half, then cut each half into four wedges. Place the shortcakes on a buttered baking sheet (with parchment, if your sheets are like mine). Brush them with the remaining tablespoon of cream and sprinkle them with the remaining sugar.

Bake about 15 minutes, until the biscuits are set and a light golden brown. When they have cooled, cut the shortcakes in half horizontally, and place the bottom halves on each of six to eight plates, or on a large platter. Place a spoonful of peach purée onto each biscuit. Spoon a large dollop of the soured cream over each, and ladle some of the peaches and their juices over the cream, letting some of the fruit fall onto the plates. Drizzle a little more peach purée, and place the shortcake tops back on.

Peaches and soured cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 pound mascarpone
1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus more to taste
4 ripe peaches (ripe is key — mine weren’t right there yet and I wished they had been)
16 small mint leaves

To make the simple syrup, combine the sugar and 1/3 cup of water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Swirl the pan until the sugar has dissolved completely. Pour the simple syrup into a small clean container, and cool in the refrigerator. (If you’re in a hurry, put it in the freezer to cool.)

Place the mascarpone in a large bowl. Add 1/3 cup of the simple syrup, and whisk to combine. (Original recipe called to have the simple syrup and mascarpone pulsed together in a food processor. (The mascarpone was cold and rather thick, so whisking was a tad difficult. Up to you what you do.) Taste for sweetness and add a little more syrup if you like. Squeeze 1 tablespoon lemon juice into the mascarpone, pulsing/whisking to combine. Make sure not to overwork it, or the mascarpone will curdle from the acidic juices. Adjust the simple syrup and lemon to your taste. Keep cold in the refrigerator. Clean the bowl of the food processor.

Peel the peaches. Cut each in half, remove the pit and then cut into slices. Toss the peach slices in a bowl with 3 tablespoons of the simple syrup. Tear the mint with your hands, add it to the peaches and toss to combine. Taste the peaches and add a little more simple syrup if you like. Let the peaches macerate in the syrup for at least 10 minutes.

Purée a quarter of the peaches in the food processor and set aside. See main recipe for assembly instructions.