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Strawberry Galettes August 23, 2008 This is the time of the year when many Kiwis pack their bags and visit Australia looking for a bit of sunshine. We’ve been catching up with quite a number of New Zealand friends and relatives these past few weeks. While there may not have been a great deal of warm sunshine on offer here in Melbourne, there’s no shortage of cultural pursuits, restaurants, vineyards, markets and other activities to keep them all occupied. The spouse’s cousin and her husband were visiting a couple of weeks back and as they’d been on the road for a couple of weeks, a home-cooked meal seemed like a good idea. Some tender veal ossa buco at one of the market butcher’s shops was an immediate choice for a chilly night. I went to investigate the fruit on offer and there were some surprisingly luscious looking strawberries from Queensland. No pallid white flesh round the stalks, either, a sure indicator of equally pallid flavour. I bought two punnets of these dark beauties, and was certainly not disappointed. I decided to whip up some strawberry galettes. Galettes are flat, round rustic tarts. They are easy to make yet they look good. I like to make individual ones, shaped to reflect the fruit I am using. While a galette generally features a flat piece of pastry or dough with the edges folded over to hold the filling in place, I use puff pastry and make a shallow incision about 1.5cm from the edge so that this part puffs higher than the rest and provides a tidy border. Good buttery commercially made frozen puff pastry sheets are ideal for this simple dessert. A small amount of frangipane filling provides the necessary substance. You can use whatever sort of fruit you like – half a poached pear, apple slices, seasonal stone fruit, mixed fruit, pineapple rings, poached quinces. First make a template for your galettes on a sheet of paper and cut out. I drew a rough heart shape with a stalk and leaf about 12cm wide. Use the template and a sharp-tipped knife to cut out the required numbers of bases from sheets of just-thawed pastry. Now cut an incision around the edge of each shape about 1.5cm in. Do not cut right through the pastry. It’s a good idea to cut a spare in case one of your galettes turns awkward in the oven. Place the shapes on baking paper on an oven tray and brush with egg white (some will be left over from the filling). Refrigerate until required.
Strawberry Galettes 1 punnet strawberries Frangipane 4 tablespoons softened butter Preheat oven to 220C. Beat the butter, almonds, sugar, flour and egg yolk together in a bowl or use a small blender. Wash and slice the strawberries thickly and place in a sieve to drain. Divide the frangipane filling among the pastry shapes, spreading it out just short of the incision. Cover with overlapping strawberry slices. Sprinkle each galette lightly with castor sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the pastry has risen around the edges and is golden. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle with icing sugar immediately prior to serving
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