Fresh Fruit Galette

I do a ton of baking for my clients, but recently I feel like I'm been too busy to do any baking for us! Last night I wanted a tart for dessert and I had some gorgeous cherries from Arrowhead Family Farm and some black raspberries from our yard.

The crust in this recipe is a Flo Braker recipe from Baking With Julia. It's a great addition to your baking repertoire and works well in sweet and savory applications. Make sure you give yourself time to let the dough chill - I didn't and pushed it: the results were fine, but the dough was a lot more challenging to work with than it should have been.

Substitute any mixture of fresh fruit that you have on hand. You can layer the fruit daintily into the crust or just tumble it in like I did. If your fruit is super juicy, you can put a tablespoon or two of breadcrumbs or cookie crumbles into the crust before you add the fruit.

Fresh Fruit Galette

Serves 4-6

• 1 recipe cornmeal galette dough (below)
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups cut up fresh fruit - I used a mixture of yellow and red cherries and black raspberries
• 1-3 tablespoons sugar (depending on the sweetness of your fruit)
• 1 tablespoon butter

On a lightly floured surface, roll the galette dough into a 12" circle (it's okay if it's not a perfect circle, galettes can be "rustic"). Transfer the round of dough to a parchment-lined or non-stick baking sheet.

Stir the fruit and sugar together and spoon the fruit onto the center of the dough, leaving a 3-4" margin of dough. Dot the fruit with the butter.

Lift the dough up and over the fruit, forming a pleated edge (see the picture up there).

Bake for 20-30 minutes until fruit is juicy and the crust is nicely browned.

Cornmeal Galette Dough

From Flo Braker in Baking with Julia

• 3 tablespoons yogurt or sour cream
• 1/4 cup ice water
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal - I like a coarse-grind cornmeal, but you can use a finer grind if you don't want a crunchier crust
• 1-2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2" cubes

Whisk together the yogurt and water, set aside in the fridge so it stays cold.

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt together. Toss in the butter and cut the butter in (with your fingers, 2 knives, a pastry cutter or in the food processor - your choice) until you have a mixture that looks like like cornmeal with some pea-sized pieces in it.

With a rubber spatula, fold in the water/yogurt mixture. If the dough seems too dry, add more water, a tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together. Wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or so at a minimum. The dough freezes really well, so make a double or triple batch and freeze the dough for later.

Labor Day Coolers

If you're having folks over for a cookout this weekend, may I recommend a fun beverage?

Aguas frescas ("fresh water") are Mexican and Central American drinks that are an ideal pairing for grilled or spicy foods, especially on a hot day. Traditionally aguas frescas are made from fruit, vegetables and grains. For our discussion, I'll stick to fruit-based aguas frescas.

The technique is simple: puree cut-up fruit with with water until smooth (let your blender run for a minute at least). Add a little lemon, salt or sugar to taste. The texture should be smooth and watery - an agua fresca should be on the watery end of the spectrum, not the juicy/pulpy end. Dilute your puree with more cold water if needed to get a drinkable consistency. Serve your agua fresca very cold.

An agua fresca is an ideal way to use up dead-ripe fruit. You can also use the fruit purees you find the freezer case (Goya sells passionfruit, mango, guabana, and other exotic-to-me fruits). Some fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums) will start to brown after they've been pureed. Add extra lemon to these, but drink them the same day you make them for best visual results.

These aguas frescas are made from strawberry, plum, passionfruit and blackberry purees. Good fruits for you to try:

• Cantaloupe or Honeydew
• Peaches or Nectarines
  
• Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries
• Watermelon

I may be stating the obvious, but ... these drinks are wonderfully refreshing on their own, but it won't be a tragedy should some tequila or rum happen to fall into your glass.

Strawberries!

I found strawberries at our local farmstand for the first time this season.

What to do? What to do?

Well, I baked a pound cake earlier today, thinking that I'd make a rhubarb compote (rhubarb from the same stand) to serve with it. We had strawberry shortcake instead. I used the America's Test Kitchen recipe for pound cake (you can find the recipe here - scroll down to find it and I apologize for the nasty picture you have to get past in order to get to it).

Prior to dinner, I whipped up a quick cocktail by muddling a few berries with basil and simple syrup. Shook them with some gin, and presto!

Strawberry season has begun. :-)