Birthday Galette
For SB’s birthday this year he requested, not cake, not something frosted, but a simple, rustic apple galette. I started making galette’s after getting a copy of Deborah Madison’s “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone”. A galette is basically a free form pie and can be filled with just about anything from sweet to savory and can be made in different sizes, thus the free form bit. I’ve become a big fan and have been surprised at how easy and impressive they are.
To make it more than just your ordinary galette, I started with cortland apples purchased that morning at the farmer’s market and threw in some dried cherries, to give it a little diversity. Then to further add decadence I made my own caramel sauce for the first time. I didn’t realize caramel making was such an explosive, steamy process and so much fun. Finally I served the galette with a scoop of Haagen Daz five, this new line that only contains five ingredients.
For inspiration I combined Deborah Madison’s recipe with this epicurious recipe, Rustic Apple and Dried Cherry Galette. It was a huge success and something I will make again, though I still did miss some birthday frosting.
Your galette is beautiful! The word galette makes me think of two things in particular, both French. First: galette des Rois, a cake prepared for the Epiphany using apples in the North and almonds in the South. There is a bean or a small metal figure in the batter, and whoever finds the small object in his or her slice of the galette is crowned king or queen for a day. Second: galette bretonne, another name for savory crepes made out of buckwheat flour. Now I will have a third association: galette à la Marijka!
Comment by Maureen — November 11, 2009 @ 11:31 am
Yum, I now want to make the other two versions of galette. All seem like the perfect fall food.
Comment by Marijka — November 13, 2009 @ 1:08 pm