rhubarb galette

Amy found this recipe in Sunset Magazine and sent it my way. She was quite taken by the presentation with the bright, red rhubarb baked as whole stalks, and really it did look beautiful baked up like that. We're always chopping the rhubarb into teeny-tiny pieces or saucing it, but never EVER just leaving it whole, to appreciate it's natural looks.


It was a great way to quickly make a rhubarb dessert and it's less sweet than your standard rhubarb concoction.

• Rhubarb Cardamom Galette
• Recipe from Sunset magazine
• 1  sheet (9 to 10 oz.) frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1/3  cup  granulated sugar, divided
• 1  tablespoon  packed brown sugar
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cardamom
• 2  tablespoons  flour
• 12  ounces  rhubarb (about 8 thin or 3 thick stalks)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425° with a rack set on lowest level. Unfold pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, the brown sugar, cardamom, and flour. Evenly sprinkle sugar mixture over pastry.

Trim rhubarb 1 in. shorter than pastry, then split lengthwise into 1/2-in.-wide pieces. Lay pieces parallel across the pastry square, leaving 1/2 in. border of pastry. Sprinkle rhubarb with remaining granulated sugar.

Bake galette until edges are golden brown and puffed, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.

a pie for your travels

these pies are miniature. and cute. and totally free-form. making them quicker to bake than a whole pie, much less exact and portable enough for a summer picnic or road trip. you can make them as small or as large as you'd like, if you make them larger you can slice as you would a pie. AND, you can use this method for any fruit filling peach, blackberry, strawberry-rhubarb, apple, you name it.   

CHERRY GALETTES

For the filling:

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 cup water

6 cups cherries, pitted, and halved (bing or sour cherries)

1/4 cup sugar (increase to 3/4 cup if using sour cherries)

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 tsp.  butter

Combine 1/3 cup cornstarch and 1 cup water in a saucepan on the stove.  Bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk until mixture has thickened. Mix cherries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a large bowl and stir.  Add thickened cornstarch mixture and combine with the fruit.

FOR THE CRUST:

2 2⁄3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

2⁄3 cup vegetable oil

6 tbsp. cold milk

Preheat oven to 400°. For the crust: Sift together flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Measure oil into a measuring cup, then add milk, but don't stir together. Pour oil and milk into flour mixture. Stir until dough just holds together. Divide dough into four sections, shape into 4 balls, and flatten slightly. Roll out each ball between two sheets of wax paper into 6" rounds. 

Place about 3/4 cup of fruit filling in the center of each piece of crust, and fold edges up over fruit to make a barrier.  Back for about 30-45 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.