sour cherry galette

Sour cherries are an elusive fruit. They grow only in a few areas in the country, are impossible to find in a grocery store (fresh, at least), and even at a farmer’s market one would be lucky to find them more than one or two weeks out of the year.

If you do happen to find them, though – buy them. A lot of them. Don’t tell your friends. Don’t tell your family. Don’t even tell your neighbor’s dog. Keep them all for yourself and make this galette.

Galette is just a French word for “we’re too lazy to make two crusts and call it a pie.” It all comes together in about an hour, which is only a little bit longer than it will take you to devour this entire tart.

Sweet-tart cherries, flaky, buttery pastry – it’s a match made in heaven. Add a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side if you’re so inclined.

I prefer to eat mine directly out of hand, eyes closed in bliss, pastry crumbs dropping all around me. It’s the only civilized way.

Sour Cherry Galette

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, chilled, cut into cubes

¼ cup cold water

1 quart (about 4 cups) sour cherries, pitted

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons corn starch

Preheat the oven to 400⁰F

Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together. Work the cold butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, fork, or your fingers, until like small crumbs. Add the ice water and mix until it becomes a soft dough, adding more cold water if needed. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss the pitted cherries in the sugar and cornstarch, let sit for at least 15 minutes. Roll out the pastry dough until about 1/8^th inch thick. Mound the cherries in the center, leaving at least a two inch border. Wrap the pastry edges around the cherries, pleating the dough where needed. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and cherries are cooked through. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.

 

key lime tart

It’s not very often that I bat an eye at the dessert menu anymore. I’ve been burned once too often by the lure of a citrus dessert.

Usually in the form of a bar or mini-tart these imposters lurk at buffets, dessert tables and on menus throughout the country. They promise the delicious complexity of the bite of citrus with a pleasing sweetness to counter the acidity. Sweet and sour. Yin and Yang.

With an unfortunate consistency these hopes are dashed at the first bite. Met with a tooth-aching amount of sweetness those once-enticing bites have been beaten with the sugar cane so severely that any hint of complexity has been annihilated.

When I do chance upon a citrus dessert that has achieved that tangy-sweet nirvana I come embarrassingly close to licking the plate. Some people I know can bear witness to just such an event at a small restaurant in North Carolina last year. I remain unashamed.

This tart swings just a little bit farther in the opposite direction. It’s more tangy than sweet and for those of you who appreciate that delicacy called the “Sour Patch Kid,” it is here that you will find a friend.

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Stuffed Crust Sopressata Pizza With Lemony Arugula Salad

Pepperidge Farm and Better Homes & Gardens magazine partnered in a contest to find new, original recipes for their puff pastry products back in December.

I submitted this recipe and won the grand prize of an all expenses paid trip to New York City and a possible mention in Better Homes & Garden magazine. The idea for the recipe came from a late night discussion with my husband about the wonders of puff pastry - the recipe is really his idea, manifested with my tastes in mind. There's a tiny little blurb in the May 2010 issue of the magazine on a Pepperidge Farm advertisement and the recipe is up on the Pepperidge Farm website along with three other recipes that won their categories in appetizer, main course, and dessert. There is a Farmer's Breakfast Tart, Jalapeno Poppers in a Blanket, and Creamed Bananas in Puff Pastry Shells. All look delicious, especially the jalapeno poppers - I might have to try those out.

I feel very honored to have won the contest and would like to thank all of those that voted for my recipe. My sister, brother-in-law and I will be taking the trip to NYC next week and I'll be sure to post all about that soon. My sister and I will be taking a master cooking class at the French Culinary Institute with Andre Soltner - something I'm very much looking forward to!

If the idea of eating an entire pizza made of puff pastry sounds daunting, try turning these into little hors d'oeuvre-size tarts.

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Shaker Meyer Lemon Tart

I think one of the most difficult aspects of moving about the country every couple of years is the quick disappearance of regional flavors. I grew up on the West Coast, mostly in the Seattle-Tacoma area of Washington State and then spent the last near-two years on the Central Coast of California. And, just as in other regions of our fair nation, we had our indigenous delicacies and delights that are near impossible to find anywhere else.

One of those particular favorites was the Meyer Lemon. Until I departed the Left Coast I had no idea that Meyer lemons were a largely regional fruit, grown mostly in California. Although, to be fair, there's no such thing as a true Meyer lemon anymore, considering that I was born well after the 1950s I'm not going to gripe too much.

Meyer lemons are milder and sweeter than your typical grocery store Eureka lemon and, sliced thin enough, even the peels are edible.

Here on the East Coast I discovered that Meyer lemons are nigh impossible to find unless one knows a grower personally.

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Kalamansi-Lemon Curd and Strawberry Tart

I'm so officially sold on this Kalamansi Tree I got last week at the farmer's market.

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