Enjoy strawberries, fresh and local

Just after I moved to Sag Harbor 15 years ago, I noticed a roadside sign on my way home from my new job as pastry chef at Nick & Toni's in East Hampton: "Locals have arrived!" Hmmm, I thought. Aren't we locals already here, frantically preparing for Memorial Day's influx of nonlocals?

A mile or two down Montauk Highway, I saw a similar sign, this one propped up against a 12-foot-tall inflatable strawberry. Now, I understood. Local strawberries have arrived. I pulled over and bought a quart of the small, tender berries and ate half of them before I got to my house. I had never had berries like these. They were juicy flavor bombs. In the morning, I added a strawberry shortcake special to the dessert menu. For the next three weeks, we sold out every night.

Since then, I've looked forward to the strawberry harvest each year, usually Memorial Day to the end of June, if we're lucky. I've learned that strawberries are particularly suited to Long Island's sandy soil and that strawberry cultivation in this area goes back to the 19th century. With the advent of the refrigerated train car at the turn of the century, Long Island strawberries were shipped far and wide. In the early 1960s, more than 700 acres in Suffolk County were under strawberry cultivation, and large auctions were held in Riverhead, where buyers from big grocery chains would carry home the local crop.

Those days are over. Far fewer acres yield local berries these days. Hardier varieties grown year-round in California and Mexico now dominate the regional and national markets. But since I've become a local myself, those berries aren't for me. As British food writer and seasonal foods proponent Paul Waddington has put it: "Do we want constant mediocrity, or fleeting brilliance?"

During the brief time that I can get my hands on local strawberries, I eat as many as possible. I like them for breakfast with granola and yogurt and for lunch in a spinach and goat cheese salad. For dessert, I spoon them over sweetened whipped cream or sour cream, sprinkle them with balsamic vinegar and black pepper, or place them in little bowls with a teaspoon of sugar and pour some sparkling wine on top. On special occasions, there is strawberry shortcake, an unbeatable combination of tender biscuits, billowy whipped cream and sliced fruit in all its seasonal glory.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Serves 8

Before there were cultivated strawberries, there were wild ones. Folktales and history books recount how Native Americans on Long Island and in Upstate New York celebrated “Strawberry Thanksgiving” and knew it was time to gather strawberries when they saw the Strawberry moon. Supposedly, Native Americans across New York added wild strawberries to their corn bread during the month of June. British colonists were so impressed with this combination that it inspired them to create the first strawberry shortcake recipe. Whether or not this story of origins is true, I love the idea of using strawberries and cornmeal together. The cornmeal adds color and crunchy texture to the biscuits. These sturdy cornmeal biscuits are well able to absorb abundant strawberry juices without becoming soggy.

For the biscuit:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch bits and chilled
2/3 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons sanding sugar or granulated sugar

For the filling:

2 pints strawberries, stemmed and halved or quartered if large
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream, chilled

1. Make the biscuits: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add butter and use a pastry blender or your fingers to blend until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the milk with a spatula until the ingredients just come to together into a rough dough. Do not overmix.
 

2. Drop the dough in 8 mounds, so that they just touch each other and form a circle, on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with the sanding sugar or granulated sugar. Bake until golden and risen, 18 to 20 minutes. Set baking sheet on a wire rack and let cool completely.
 

3. Combine berries, ¼ cup sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Let stand, stirring occasionally, to dissolve sugar. Whip cream and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar until the cream just holds stiff peaks.
 

4. Slide the biscuit ring from the parchment paper to a serving platter. Use a sharp serrated knife to carefully cut the top 1/3 of the biscuit away from the bottom half and slide it to the side. Don’t worry if it breaks—you’ll be able to replace it even if it is in pieces. Spoon the berries and their juices over the bottom halves of the biscuits. Dollop with whipped cream and replace the biscuit ring top. Serve immediately.