ADDICTED TO FOOD BLOGGA’S ADDICTION…A BEAUTIFUL PEACH & PLUM GALETTE!

“We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink…”
Epicurus
Galette a la Plums & Peaches!
If someone said to me that they made a galette, I would just nod & get on my way, maybe wouldn’t even bat an eyelid! Never heard of something like that before (seriously I haven’t, even if that means you think I live under a rock!). Now if someone showed me a picture of a galette they baked, & if that someone had the word addiction in the blog post, & if that someone was the ever so talented Food Blogga gal, it would grab me by the eyeballs…as did Susan’s post @ Food Blogga! I should have never wandered towards her highly addictive blog, because it talked me into bookmarking the “Peach & Blueberry Galette“! Calories, calories & more calories I thought…but what a delightful pastry it turned out to be.
Once again in a fantastic combination of peaches & plums…& ever so pretty. Susan, this was quite easily the best pastry thing I made this summer; am already looking forward to next year…to try it with cherries!

A galette is a type of French pastry made with a rich, flaky crust, and traditionally served at Epiphany, on the 6th day of January. Many bakeries also offer galettes year round, in both savory and sweet incarnations. In general, a galette is rounded and flat, and it tends to be very crusty because of the type of pastry used to make it. A galette can be made at home with minimal effort.

Depending on the region and the chef, a galette may be made plain, but it is more usually filled with something. The traditional sweet filling includes almond paste mixed with eggs and slivers of orange peel. This filling is often used for an Epiphany galette, to which the cook also adds a small feve, or charm. The Epiphany galette is known in French as the galette des rois, or “King Cake,” and the consumer who gets the slice with the charm is crowned the king or queen.

Peach and Plum Galette as adapted ‘minimally’ from Susan @ Food Blogga
Serves 8
Ingredients:
Dough:
All-purpose flour – 1 3/4 cups
Granulated sugar – 1/3 cup
Coarse cornmeal – 1/4 cup
Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
Cold butter – 1/2 cup; cut into small pieces
Fat-free buttermilk – 1/3 cup

Fruit Filling:
Plums – 10-12; stoned & chopped
Peaches – 3 cups; thinly sliced (about 3-4 large)
Granulated sugar – 1/2 cup
Light brown sugar – 1/4 cup
Ground cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
Pure vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
Fresh minced ginger – 1 teaspoon
Cornstarch – 3 tablespoons

Egg white – 1
Fat-free milk – 2 tablespoons
Turbinado sugar – 1 tablespoon

Method:
To make the dough:
  • Combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, and salt in a processor; pulse 2-3 times. Add butter and pulse 4-5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the processor running, slowing pour the buttermilk through the chute, processing until the dough forms a ball.
  • Remove the dough ball and adhere any remaining pieces of dough to it, then wrap in plastic wrap or parchment paper. Refrigerate for 30-35 minutes. (I did it for almost an hour because the weather was HOT)
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • To make the fruit filling, combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and toss gently, making sure that the cornstarch is coating the fruit. (This will prevent too much juice from leaking out while the galette bakes.)
  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a sheet of parchment paper. Starting at the center of the dough, roll out, forming a 14-15-inch wide circle.
  • Place the dough with parchment paper on a baking sheet. Add the fruit mixture to the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
  • Fold the border over the filling, overlapping where necessary and pressing gently to adhere the folds.
  • Lightly whisk the egg white and milk in a small bowl. Brush dough with egg wash, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
  • Bake for 1 hour, or until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for at least 20 minutes. (Cutting it too quickly will cause the dough to crack).
  • It’s best served at room temperature or slightly warm. Optional garnishes include vanilla ice cream, a dollop of creme fraiche, or freshly whipped cream.

Waiter There’s Something In My Picnic Basket…& it’s a scrumptious galette!

The PassionateCook, Cook Sister & SpittoonExtra are back after a small break & with the August edition of WTSIMthis time, they’re looking for picnic recipes, anything that transports well, can be prepared in advance and doesn’t need (much) preparation on the spot. Just a knife needed to cut a slice of this delicious pie; it’s absolutely yummy on it’s own, but a dollop of ice-cream or some mascarpone makes it divine!
The great thing about my newly discovered ‘sweetie-pie’ is that the pastry remains CRISP no matter what…hot, at room temperature & even chilled.

I did some more with the pastry…I nicked a bit of dough to experiment. You can see a sneak preview in the background below. Will post that in the next post…

…Until then, enjoy the picnic! Bon Appetit !!

MAKE MINE A CRISP…PLUMS n PEACHES!

“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. “
Henry David Thoreau

Stone Fruit Crisp – Peaches & Plums…

This is quite the best time of the year to get inspired by summer fruits in food. This summer is special for me. The blogosphere is constantly churning out eye-catching & delicious fruity delights a dime a dollar!! It’s difficult to catch up & make each of them, but I’m getting on slowly & steadily… a real feast for the eyes. Here’s a stone-fruit crisp I made inspired largely by this ‘Triple Berry Rhubarb Crisp‘ posted by Susan’s @ Food Blogga. A single type of berry is hard enough to come by here where we live, so ‘triple berry’ could only exist in my dreams. I decided to go ahead & use what I had on hand…using this recipe for a Plum & Peach Crisp’ from 101cookbooks.

PEACHES & PLUMS … YUM YUM YUM!!

Peaches, plums, cherries and apricots are a few of summer’s sweetest treasures. Few culinary pleasures compare with biting into a ripe sweet peach bursting with juice or enjoying a sugary sweet plum at the peak of its season. Most of the luscious fruits of summer are known as stone fruits because of the stone-like pit at the core of the fruit. When fully ripe and at the peak of their season, there’s no better way to enjoy stone fruits than simply eating them just as they are – fresh, sweet and full of juice. However, the exquisite flavors of ripe stone fruits lend themselves to many creative uses, be it fruit salads, cobblers or compotes.

The crisp was to be done for the following day, but I decided to do the fruit on day 1. Not too sure if peaches & plums were a ‘hot’ combination, I muddled ahead anyway, trying to make the best of what I had. By the time the fruit was done, there was no ambiguity left.
The combination was finger licking good, & spoonfuls were doing the disappearing act, so the bowl was hurriedly bundled into the fridge. Baked the crisp the next day. Must say that the flavours that overtook the house were unbelievable… fruity wafts filled the air & the plummy-peach or peachy-plum syrup started bubbling over the edges. They have been and are still called by various names such as cobbler, tart, pie, torte, pandowdy, grunt, slump, buckles, crisp, croustade, bird’s nest pudding or crow’s nest pudding. They are all simple variations of cobblers, and they are all based on seasonal fruits and berries, in other words, whatever fresh ingredients are readily at hand. They are all homemade and simple to make and rely more on taste than fancy pastry preparation.
Early settlers of America were very good at improvising. When they first arrived, they bought their favorite recipes with them, such as English steamed puddings). Not finding their favorite ingredients, they used whatever was available. That’s how all these traditional American dishes came about with such unusual names. Early colonist were so fond of these juicy dishes that they often served them as the main course, for breakfast, or even as a first course. It was not until the late 19th century that they became primarily desserts.
A really simple dessert to make…

Recipe for Peach & Plum Crisp as adapted from 101cookbookCrisp:
Brown sugar – 1/2 cup
Flour – 1/4 cup
Rolled oats – 1/2 cup
Almonds – 1/4 cup chopped
Ground cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
Ground ginger – 1/4 teaspoon
Butter – 4 tablespoons / melted Method:

  • To make the topping combine the oats, flour, sugar, ginger, almonds and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Stir in the butter & mix until everything comes together in a dough-like texture. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the plum and peach mixture.

Filling:
Chopped peaches -2 cups ; chopped (about 3-4 large peaches)
Plums – 12-14; pitted & chopped
Granulated sugar – 1/4 cup
Light brown sugar – 1/4 cup
Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp
Ginger powder – 1/2 tsp
Cornstarch – 2 tablespoonsMethod:

  • Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.
  • Cut the peaches and plums into bite-sized, 1-inch pieces. Gently simmer for 2-3 minutes with the ginger & cinnamon. Don’t overcook; the fruit should retain it’s shape.
  • In a separate small bowl whisk together the cup sugar and the arrowroot. Sprinkle over the fruit, toss gently (but well). Allow to cool slightly.
  • Put the fruit into an 8″ baking dish. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the plum and peach mixture.
  • Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the topping is golden & the fruit starts bubbling over the edges.
  • Best served warm or at room temperature… even better with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy summer at it’s best…

A PLUM OF A CAKE…FRESH PLUMS & PISTACHIO NUTS

“Do not be afraid to go out on a limb. . .That’s where the fruit is.”
Anonymous

Fresh Plum Spice Cake

Blogging is greatly inspiring. It’s opens the mind to new ideas & makes you look at everything differently. Food blogging for foodies like me goes even a step further. A fruit means more than just a chomp now; it eggs me on to try & widen my horizons!

…am still on a fruit trail

Cherries have all but disappeared from the market; they show up for a very short period in summer. Peaches, plums & mangoes still rule the roost, with mangoes creating a sort of flood. I’m in a hurry to try out something fruitfully plummy because plums are gonna disappear soon too. Until now, a plum was a mere juicy fruit to dig your teeth into & get splattered with juice ; also a connection to a beautiful colour. Googling opened new vistas & I set forth to try & experiment with a fresh plum cake. Would have thrown some ground almonds in too, but almonds being expensive, didn’t have the heart to take a chance. As an after thought, they may well have tasted wonderful. *Sigh*…next time maybe, but I am rapidly turning into a ‘try everything at least once’ sort of a person…& ‘the everything at least once list’ is rapidly expanding towards infinity; at the best of times is quite daunting! Also, have to balance calories, the bane of our existence!! What a challenging thing life is!!

Serving up a slice of happiness…

Ingredients:
Plums – 8 ; pitted & quartered
Pistachio nuts – ½ cup ; roughly chopped
Butter – ½ cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Eggs – 2
Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
Almond Extract – 1 tsp
Flour – 1 cup
Cinnamon powder – 1 tbsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Topping :
Sugar – 2 tbsps
Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees c. Grease & line bottom of a non-stick Victoria sandwich tin.

  • Sift flour + cinnamon + baking powder + salt. Keep aside
  • Sprinkle ¼ cup chopped pistachios on base of tin (over the lining). Top evenly with chopped plums.
  • Cream butter + sugar till fluffy.Add eggs + both extracts & beat well.
  • Mix in the flour mix well. Pour this batter evenly over the plums & pistachios.
  • Mix the cinnamon & sugar for the topping in a small bowl.
  • Sprinkle over the top evenly & bake for 35-40 minutes.
  • Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes.
  • Then turn out onto rack & gently peel off the lining off the top, scraping back any fruit that might cling on to the lining.
  • Give it a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar & the remaining chopped pistachios. Can dust with powdered sugar before serving again. Serve warm with a drizzle of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
  • … in the plum of things & loving it!!
    That’s the verdict!!

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