Corn Bread Shortcake With Ham Fresh Peach Salsa Recipe 455

Steps:

• To prepare salsa, combine the peaches, cranberries, orange juice, shallots, chopped cilantro, brown sugar, lime juice, cumin, and red pepper in a bowl, and toss gently. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 425°F. To prepare shortcake, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Make a well in the center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, and egg in a bowl; add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425°F for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack. Turn shortcake out onto a cutting board or work surface; cut into 9 equal pieces. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add ham to pan, and sauté 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from heat; keep warm. Cut shortcake pieces in half horizontally. Place 1 bottom half on each of 9 plates; top each serving with 1 tablespoon salsa, 1 ham slice, and top half of shortcake. Top each serving with 2 tablespoons salsa. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Steps:

• To Make Corn Bread:
• Preheat oven to 375°F. and generously butter a jelly-roll pan. 15 1/2 by 10 1/2 by 1 inch.
• In a bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and Cheddar.
• In a small bowl, whisk together egg, butter, sour cream and milk. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture until just combined and spread evenly in prepared pan. (It is important to spread batter evenly or corn bread will be too thin and crisp in places.) Bake corn bread in the middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until sides pull away from pan and top is golden. While corn bread is hot, with a sharp knife, loosen corn bread edges and cut into twelve 2 1/2-inch squares, preferably with a square cutter. With a metal spatula carefully transfer corn bread to a cutting board to cool and trim.
• Halve each square diagonally to form 24 triangles. Corn bread triangles may be made 2 days ahead and kept in a sealed plastic bag, chilled. Corn bread will soften slightly. If crisper corn bread is desired, reheat in a 350°F. oven until crisp before proceeding with recipe.
• To Assemble Hors d'Oeuvres:
• Top each corn bread triangle with a folded ham slice and 1 teaspoon chutney.
• Halve and pit peach and cut into 1/8-inch dice (about 1 1/4 cups).
• In a bowl, combine peach, raisins, chili, gingerroot, shallot and cumin. Chill chutney, covered, at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours.
• About 1 hour before serving, stir in remaining ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. Serve chutney at room temperature. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
• Can be made in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.