make your stomach happy | . |
|
|||||||||||||
copyright
©1999-2000 |
The
French, well known for their rich cuisine, like to end their
meals on a lighter note: with a simple, seasonal fruited
dessert. With
gardens and markets just bursting now with fresh, flavorful
fruits aplenty, summer is the perfect time to try our hands at
dessert the French way. So in honor of the French, we’re
making galettes – or free-form, open-faced tarts, for those of
you aren’t fluent in français.
Made with a flaky pastry dough (which we can thank
Pepperidge Farm® for making) and the fruit filling of your
choice, galettes are quick, easy, and of course, very, very
tasty. No pie pan,
no perfect fluted crust, just free-form and très
fabulous! Filling | I’ve made galettes with
everything from apricots to peaches to apples, but pretty much any fruit
works well. (My one
disaster was the attempt at a strawberry galette – the berries proved
too watery.) Go ahead and adapt the fruit filling to whatever happens to
be in season. If the fruit
is extra tart, feel free to add an extra tablespoon (or two) of sugar.
The fruit mixture is first cooked on the stove -- to release all
those juices and to allow it thicken up – before being encased in the
dough and tossed in the oven to bake. Dough |
Because time is ever of the essence – and because
you won’t be sacrificing anything in the way of flavor – pre-made
puff pastry, available at any supermarket, is the way to go. Puff pastry
has a light, tender, flaky texture and consistency… perfect for
enclosing a sweet fruit filling. Don’t
be intimidated by the fact that a galette uses puff pastry … we are,
after all, cheating just a bit by using purchased puff pastry sheets, so
there’s really nothing to it. Just
open the box, pull out a single sheet, let it thaw and then roll it
out… easy as pie, right? (Or rather, easy as tart.)
Folding |
With the puff pastry sheet rolled
out, you’re ready to fill away. Once the fruit is mounded in the
center of the dough, the edges are gently folded up to make a tidy
little shell for the filling. The most important thing is to make sure
that the edges are firmly pinched shut -- you don’t want all those
fruit juices oozing out. Don’t worry if, despite all your careful efforts, a little
juice manages to leak out nonetheless.
Because the galette is a “free-form” tart, perfection is out
the window. You’ll end up
with a tart that’s au naturel, rather than the sort of primped,
crimped and fluted pie you’re probably used to baking. Helpful hints |
If possible, try to line the baking
sheet with parchment paper. Parchment
paper is a thick, moisture- and grease-resistant paper that is typically
used to line baking pans. It
eliminates the need to grease baking pans, or slave over any dirty pans
afterwards (just throw out the sheet when you’re done). If you
haven’t used this stuff before, you must get your hands on some –
it’s a baker’s best friend. ............................................
...o check
out these related
articles: ---------------------------> lounge . nourish . host . laze . home. |