Bountiful

My week starts (it's Saturday, so you could say it ends, but I like to think of it as Starting) with a planned trip to the Charlotte Farmers' Market. It's open year round, and I first discovered it in February and was happy with what I found...Now that it's June, the crowds are coming in droves...

Here's the take this week:

 

There are peaches, heirloom tomatoes, fabulous oyster and shiitake mushrooms, Thai basil, pasture-raised beef and chicken, eggs (forgot to get them in the photo) and lard (yes, that's what I said...I want to experiment with pie crusts--only two tablespoons, but I think I want to use that over shortening these days...)

Happily, my Monday with Dorie (all RIGHT! I know it's called Tuesdays with Dorie! Consider me a free spirit!) was Tender Shortcakes. 

Oh, my.

I have said it before, but one of the most important things I've learned about baking along with the TWD crowd and learned because Dorie repeats it in her instructions so often is to not overmix...use a light touch. The lighter the touch, the lighter the result. And that couldn't be truer in this instance..Very lightly sweetened (2 tablespoons of sugar for 12 biscuits, which is how many I got out of this (was supposed to be 10)...I barely pressed the dough together, using my hands to gently scoop and press about 1/3 of the dough into loose mounds on the baking sheet, then ever-so-gently patting it down...

And you KNOW where those berries went, right? Straight onto these biscuits. I prefer my shortcake split so the juice gets to soak into the biscuit...I had no whipped cream and that wasn't missed.

If you want the recipe, either buy the book (Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan) or have a look at The Tortefeasor by Cathy, where she posts the recipe (with permission, btw).