I love to cook and I love to eat good food.  Alas, the fact that I work 9-5 means that I can't do either as much as I would like, and like many I am often stuck at my desk during my lunch "hour".  My solution is to try to bring my lunch to work as much as I can.  This is my collection of recipes, all made quickly the night before (either as lunch or as dinner with leftovers that can be taken in).  Happy eating.

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Blueberry and peach galette


Another post from guest chef Momster. (Yes, that would be my mother.) My regular calls home are on the weekends due to the 8 hour time difference. Every Saturday afternoon in London, I call home to California and, depending on the time, I either catch her before or after the Farmer's Market. During the summer, she comes back with varieties of peach, plum, pluot; blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries; and everything else from apricot to, erm..., zucchini! I always listen, trying not to drool, filled with food envy. There are fantastic markets in London, but I have never been to one where I could pick from 10 different varieties of nectarine.

What to do with this bounty? Obviously some gets eaten straight, fresh and ripe, not even making it out of the basket. Some makes its way into fruit salads, unadulterated or mixed with a sweet and tangy poppyseed dressing. But the very luckiest fruit gets baked with pastry and eaten with ice cream.

I love a pie as much as anyone, and always enjoy a rumble with a crumble. But sometimes I like something a little less structured, a little more rustic: the fruit galette. A free-form pie, like a tart but without the tart tin or blind baking, the galette is more like a fruit pizza, but so much better. And so much easier!

Bonus points for arranging the fruit in a nice pattern: I think my mother did well.

Fruit Galette

Dough:
1 C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 oz. unsalted butter
ice water

Filling:
Peaches/berries/plums/etc.
2-3 Tbsp. flour
6 Tbsp. sugar (or to taste)

Combine flour and salt and cut in butter until pieces are pea-sized. Add water 1 Tbsp. at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky. Flatten dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 15 minutes or so. Roll out to 12" diameter, and transfer to a (parchment lined - optional) pizza pan or baking sheet. Cover with plastic and refrigerate.

Pre-heat oven to 400 (200C) and prepare fruit (pit, slice, etc.).

Leaving a 2 inch border, sprinkle dough with 2-3 Tbsp. flour and 1 Tbsp. sugar. Arrange fruit on top and sprinkle with remaining 4 Tbsp. sugar, or to taste. Fold dough over the fruit about 2 inches to form a rim. Make sure there are no cracks where the juice can leak out.

Brush the rim of the dough with melted butter and sprinkle with final 1 Tbsp. sugar.

Bake until well-browned and bubbly, about 30-40 minutes (maybe less, depending on your oven). Brush fruit with its own juice to glaze it. Serve warm, preferably with ice cream.

18 comments:

Sunshine said...

That galette looks fantastic! I have the same problem as you, but I live in Oklahoma (the Farmers' Market it great, but I only have maybe 2 options for any kind of fruit or veg).

The Duo Dishes said...

We loooove making galettes. So fun. And of course good.

Chef Fresco said...

How cute!

teresa said...

That is absolutely gorgeous, and looks delicious!

Reeni said...

This looks delicious! So rustic looking and comforting.

velva said...

With summer berries in season this is an ideal way to prepare a great fruit galette.
Blueberry season ended here in Florida about a month ago. I was lucky to have picked 15 lbs. of fresh blueberries and placed them in my freezer. Peaches are at their peak right now too. I am thinking this galette is a perfect solution to a summer dessert.

Jamie said...

Lucky you having a mom like this! And the fruit galette is so simple that it is really just perfect! Yum!

Donna-FFW said...

I love the combo of blueberries and peaches and this galette looks gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

I've never made galettes, partly because I'm afraid of rolling out dough and screwing it up. But, the more I see galettes, the more I'm going to have to bake them.

Weight Control Help & Strategies said...

Looks very tasty!

Emmett said...

Nice blog!

grace said...

two reasons to love this. first of all, it’s rustic, and that’s just another word for “magical” to me. secondly, there’s crust involved, and that’s (almost) all I need to be satisfied in life. :)

Sarah Glova said...

I agree-- i think your Mom did well, and would be proud :)

But she wouldn't be proud of me. I had to look up what a galette was...

even before seeing the definition, I knew from your picture I want to try and make one!

lisaiscooking said...

This galette looks like summer! The fresh fruit in this must be delicious.

figtree said...

The perfect summer time dessert..I have some leftover galette dough in the freezer..now I know just what Im going to do with it..Figtreeapps

Joyce said...

Your Mom has an excellent recipe for galette and it looks delicious. I hope to make one this week using her recipe to give to a friend. Thanks for posting the recipe:)
Joyce

Creative Classroom Core said...

This is beautiful!

Ashley said...

What a gorgeous dessert! I love how rustic it is - pure comfort food!

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