“J’aime la galette, savez-vous comment? Quand elle est bien faite, avec du beurre dedans.”
The Berry Galette, up close and personal. The Tuesday with Dorie Baking with Julia recipe choice for this week.
French school children sing a silly, nonsensical tune about this week’s TWD/BWJ recipe choice, Berry Galette. Translated, the lyrics are,“I like galette, do you know how? When it is made well, with butter inside.”
This afternoon, as I was putting together what I considered a simple recipe, “est bien faite” , the “made well “ part, became a problem. My dough wasn’t coming together for me. Not at all. Frustrated, I combined the two small disks into one and tossed them back in the refrigerator.
What started as two, wrapped tightly and chilled for two hours, failed to live up to their task. Two became one and were returned to the fridge to “chill out”.
Next, I’ll even admit pulling out my “if all else fails” emergency back-up, hidden in my freezer: Trader Joe’s Pie Crust. Just couldn’t do it. Instead, I walked around our community’s Loop ( it was 106 degrees), huffed and puffed and returned to try again.
Thought about it. Seriously. Considered it. Seriously. Couldn’t do it.
My second attempt was successful and I managed to roll out one 11” circle that was about 1/8” thick, discarding the rest of the dough. After transferring it to a parchment-lined jelly roll pan, I spread blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, within two inches of the border. Then I sprinkled sugar, poured honey, and sliced butter over the fruit. I wrapped and pleated the dough to seal in the fruit (hopefully).
In the oven, pleated and wrapped.
Although my galette sprung a leak, my sleuthing suggests it’s quite difficult to not have seepage. Even master baker and cookbook author Flo Braker, who shared this recipe with Julia, believes a juicy galette is a well-baked galette as shown in her photo on pages 344-345 of our cookbook, Baking with Julia.
Whoops.
The only change I made to this recipe was substituting one-half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. To add more flavor, a small amount of Licor 43 could be poured on the fruit mix but I choose not to add more liquid this time. To see the full recipe go to the websites of our hosts this week: Lisa, http://tomatothymes.blogspot.com, who is from Ohio and Andrea, http://kitchenlioness.blogspot.com , who now lives in Germany. Andrea is also my colleague as a member of French Fridays with Dorie. To see if others huffed or puffed this week, go to http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com
Served warm, with a scoop of ice cream, Berry Galette is very tasty.
One of life’s selfish pleasures, for me at least, is rescuing that last lonely piece of pie, (a leftover from the night before), grabbing a fork and with a fresh cup of coffee, calling it Breakfast.
BLUEBERRY – NECTARINE PIE
This week’s TWD/BWJ recipe choice was Blueberry-Nectarine Pie, a big-buxom double-crusted dessert brimming with seasonal fruits. As for the morning-after pastry? Never happened. Gone. Nada.
One-half the fruit filling with sugar, flour and lemon zest added is brought to a soft boil over medium heat on your stove top.
This recipe, which Julia baked at the elbow of Leslie Mackie, a California Culinary Academy-trained baker of some repute, is all about the fruit. Because the filling is cooked briefly on the stove top, you can adjust the fruits’ flavor combinations before the pie goes into the oven.
As Dorie explains it, that’s “a good idea and guarantee of success from pie to pie, no matter the sweetness, or lack thereof, of a particular bunch of fruit.”
Time to chill-out and take a nap in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Hilary and Liz hosted this week’s Tuesday with Dorie/Baking with Julia so check their amazing blogs for the complete recipe. Then I suggest you make these changes:
1. After combining the softly cooked fruit mixture with the uncooked half and cooling it to room temperature, strain the released juices/liquid into a small bowl.
2. If this is an “adult-only” pie, add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of Licor 43 (Cuarenta Y Tres) to the liquid. I met this light-bodied, sweet liqueur through food blogger Susan Lester who suggests it as a subtle punch to baked goods. Made from citrus and fruit juices, it’s flavored with vanilla and other aromatic herbs and spices, in total 43 different ingredients.
3. Return half to three-quarters of the liquid (with or without alcohol addition) to the fruit mixture. Save the remaining liquid for a smoothie (I could become addicted to Licor 43 Smoothies but that’s another Blog Post story.)
In the oven, lookin’ happy.
I used my tried-and-true crust recipe from my food processor pamphlet and baked this pie for 50 minutes until the crust was golden and fruit bubbling. Let the pie sit for an hour or two before cutting so both crusts have a chance to set.
Hold your breath. Cut the first slice. Smile broadly.
If you have a slice or two left, be sure to cover it tightly and stick it in the refrigerator. Fat chance of that happening…………….
Although there was juice seepage, my crusts never were soggy and each slice was intact for presentation. I think reducing the liquid by one-half was key to my pie’s success. This will depend upon the fruit used, however.
The Verdict is In: A Watermelon without pips (seeds) is not a real Watermelon.
Whoever invented watermelons without seeds did a grave injustice to summertime. Is there anyone among us whose childhood didn’t include a seed-spitting competition?
This is what came to mind as I prepared this week’s summer salad choice, Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad. I first spotted this recipe in Nigella Lawson’s ForeverSummer cookbook published in 2003. Oprah adapted it for her August 2006 issue and Martha highlighted it in an July-August 2007 issue. When a food blogging colleague recently reminded me of this tasty Greek combo, I pulled out my cookbook.
This salad stands out in any crowd.
Since I’m back in Colorado where summer is synonymous with potlucks, I see this as a perfect contribution to a food table. This Mediterranean salad is splashy, stealing center stage from the traditional potato salad and coleslaw. It’s tasty, with no hidden players. Everything – melon, olives, feta and red onions – are independent but swing well with each other. This salad likes to travel and will hold up just fine, if need be. A big crowd? It doubles or triples easily.
The lime juice enables the red onion slices to blush.
Maybe the Greeks can’t balance their budget but they sure can create a razzle-dazzle salad.
Nigella Lawson’s Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad
Forever Summer (2003)
Serves: 8
INGREDIENTS
(the only adaption I made was exchanging walnut oil for olive oil and adding toasted chopped walnuts)
1 small red onion
2-4 limes, depending on juiciness (the more, the better, I think)
1.5 kg (3.3 lbs ) sweet, ripe watermelon
250g (1 cup) feta cheese
Bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
Bunch fresh mint, chopped
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ( I used walnut oil)
100g ( 1/3 to 1/2 cup) pitted black olives
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts (my addition)
Black pepper
METHOD
Serves: 8
1.Peel and halve the red onion and cut into very fine half-moons. Put in a small bowl to steep with the lime juice and bring out the transparent pinkness in the onions and diminish their rasp.
2. Remove the rind and pips (seeds) from the watermelon, and cut into triangular chunks (see picture). Cut the feta into similar sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow bowl. Tear off sprigs of parsley so that it is used like a salad leaf, rather than a garnish, and add to the bowl along with the chopped mint.
3. Pour the onions, along with their pink juices, over the salad already in the bowl. Add the oil, olives and nuts. Using your hands, toss the salad very gently so that the feta and melon don’t lose their shape. Grind black pepper to taste and add more lime juice, if needed.
Note: I bought a seedless (without pips) watermelon for this salad. I didn’t think it had the flavor of the regular watermelons I usually purchase. Not a scientific study, however.
Spring had sprung but the picnic’s indoors. Crab & Grapefruit Salad with mini-muffins.
Quick, no thinking, come up with five different food pairings:
fried chicken and mashed potatoes&gravy;
hamburger and french fries;
apple pie and vanilla ice cream;
corned beef and cabbage;
pork chops and applesauce.
Now, try to throw grapefruit and lump crabmeat into the mix. Yes, that would be a stretch.
Stretching is what Dorie Greenspan and these French Fridays cooking adventures are about. This week she raised the bar again and asked us to prepare a Crab & Grapefruit Salad (p.134). She even provided a full-page photograph (p.135). Love it when she does that. Whether it was her creative recipe combo, the inspiration of the picture or my being back in the familiar surroundings of my own kitchen, this was one delicious salad.
Shortly after returning from California this week, Colorado friends called to say they were in town, suggesting a Thursday lunch date. I explained I was on Dorie duty that day and invited them here without elaborating on the menu. Early Thursday morning, I got to work.
Red Bell Peppers, Cucumbers & Scallions, Lump Crabmeat, and Grapefruit, ready to be tossed together.
Early springtime mint, fresh from my herb garden, provides the top hats for my salad servings.
With Dorie, it’s always imperative to read through the entire recipe well in advance before beginning the preparation. Case in point. After the grapefruit is sectioned and removed to a paper towel, the fruit must be dried. For hours. Six, for me.
Other ingredients including a seedless cucumber, red bell pepper and scallions, simply need a dice or slice. Use your fingers to toss everything together with the crab before adding small amounts of olive oil and grapefruit juice. Salt and pepper, to taste. Lemon juice and minced fresh mint give this salad extra punch.
The fun of this salad is in its presentation. I tried four different glasses (clockwise: Martini Glass; Parfait Dish; Antique Etched Water Glass; and Brandy Snifter) each with its own “look”. I still don’t have a favorite.
Each glass container shows off beautifully.
To complement the salad, I passed mini-bran muffins. Another strange food pairing, perhaps, but it worked well against the richness of the main dish. My guests enjoyed the lunch. I enjoyed my guests. This story, therefore, has a happy ending.
To see what other French Fridays’ cooks did with this salad, go to http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/. Although Dorie’s recipe for this salad is available on line, we suggest you buy her book, Around My French Table. The cost of her book is less than the cost of the pound of lump crabmeat I used in this salad.
