Saturday, August 9, 2008

Plum Galette.. Sort of

When I feel as if I've had enough traveling in my week I'll usually decide to stay in the dormitory for Shabbat with some friends and have our meals together. Sometimes, I'll invite myself out to friends who live in apartments right outside campus, but on quieter weekends such as this one, my friends and I will usually jointly make meals, each of us contributing something. Cooking and baking and preparing for Shabbat with lots of laughter in our tiny kitchen is always the hightlight of our otherwise dull Fridays. I of course chose to make dessert. (I also made a delicious sweet noodle kugel- those of you interested in the recipe can email me or leave a comment.) But of course choosing to make dessert always bites me in the butt because it takes me hours to decide what to make, that being after I've changed my mind a thousand times. I finally decided on a plum galette as plums are in season now, plentiful and sweet. I must admit, I'm slightly embarrassed because my galette looks nothing like one. The dough wouldnt roll out anymore and so I couldn't fold it up so much so it's not so attractive. I thought to make it in a pie pan to support it, and good I did because the juices bubbled and thickened like crazy. It would have made a mess in my oven that I would have to struggle to clean. Anyway, I wouldn't have told you about it unless I thought it was super delicious though. And super delicious it was. The recipe I used was from The Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daly. The crust was great and the fruit and sugar melted and caramelized and developed this amazing bubbly goodness, which yes, I ate from the pan by the spoonful. Shh, don't tell! The recipe itself is simple, but a keeper, I just have to work on my execution. I'm much better at making regular pies, I promise!


The Pate Brisee dough ready to be made into a round and chilled.



The pate brisee dough ready to be rolled. 
The pate brisee rolled as far as it would go.
The plums bathing in sugar and cornstarch.

Ready to meet its oven. Unfortunately, I didn't take a final photograph in all it's plummy glory, but believe me, this is something you should definitely try, if not with plums than with some other seasonal fruit. You have no excuse!

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