A few weeks back, I assisted a fellow food stylist for a well-known retailer on their magazine’s Christmas edition. I had to track down two FRESH 10-12 lb turkeys in July! Can you imagine? Not many butchers carry fresh turkeys at the beginning of July but I was lucky because one in particular supplies many food stylists in Toronto and I was able to get the two 11 lb birds on short notice! Note to self, this butcher ROCKS! The quality is exceptional and when I asked for 10-12 lb turkeys, he gave me 11 lb not 14 lb like my butcher does!
During this shoot, we made pies and while the pies we made were beautiful, the stylist mentioned she would make a galette for the crew using the leftover fruit, so galette stuck in my head. Fast forward to the Sunday, JT and I were driving up to the cottage (he had a councillor meeting first thing on Monday morning) and I was able to purchase fresh, Ontario Strawberries from a road-side farm vendor (I think the kids were selling them!), the strawberries were picked that very morning. Ontario strawberries are usually the small, heart-shaped berries that taste like strawberries, totally unlike the gargantuan berries we usually have all year round from California (sorry guys, but California must send us the most tasteless, most gigantic strawberries ever and keep all the good stuff for themselves!) I put this quick galette together using my brand new cottage immersion blender, with the mini food processor attachment. I adore the rustic look of a galette, perfect for the cottage!Ontario Strawberry and Blueberry Galette
The original recipe for the pastry is from Dori Greenspan’s beautiful book, Baking with Julia, but you can find the recipe on-line, here, here and here to name a few!
Makes 1 galette about 20 cm or 10 inches in diameter
Ingredients:
- 2-3 tbsp ice-cold water
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp AP unbleached flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 egg yolk with a splash of water
- 2 cups small strawberries
- 1 cup blueberries
- 3 tbsp AP unbleached flour
- 2 tbsp sugar, plus more for dusting the pastry
Directions:
- Combine flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of a small food processor. Pulse quickly until the butter is totally incorporated and the dough resembles a coarse meal. Pour all of the water in at once and process again until the dough, more or less, comes together. Pour out the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and working quickly, press the dough into a single disk. Cover with the wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes, like I did.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (176 °C) (I have convection (fan) at the cottage).
- Wash and dry strawberries and blueberries. Toss with the 3 tbsp flour and 2 tbsp sugar until well coated. Set into the refrigerator while you work on the pastry.
- Roll out the pastry dough into a 30 cm or 12 inch round. Pile the berries into the centre and fold up the edges, pinching to contain the excess pastry. Brush the pastry with the egg yolk (and a splash of water) and sprinkle with additional sugar (sanding sugar would have been great, but I was at the cottage so I didn’t have any).
- Bake on a piece of parchment for 20-30 minutes (I have a small convection oven, so it baked very quickly). Serve warm with basil ice yogurt (see notes below).
Notes:
- JT said that my fruit to pastry ratio was off, so I adjusted the above recipe and doubled the fruit.
- Basil Ice Yogurt is simple to make: combine 1 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup honey (or to taste), chiffonade of 8-10 basil leaves and mix well. Freeze for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t freeze solid.
- Basil and strawberries are a lovely combo.
What a beautiful dessert, Eva! The strawberries do look particularly delicious too… I must say that my favourite strawberries are in general the smaller varieties and the best are those sold in late summer/early autumn which are also very dark…
I love buying fruits and vegetables from roadside vendors. No such thing in Switzerland alas, but they do exist in France. I did buy a bag of peaches on our way back from the South of France last weekend and they tasted heavenly….
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Hi Sissi, thank you for your kind words. I’m surprised that Switzerland does not have road side farmer vendors, it seems so grass roots. But then again, it may be too pedestrian for the Swiss! The berries you described sound incredible, such a flash back to summer. Do you freeze them for winter? I haven’t done it in years, wish I had a bigger freezer!
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My mom used to call this combination of berries “bumbleberry”. Your galette is gorgeous (as is the peek at the lake through the window). GREG
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Hi Greg, I Had no idea that Bumbleberry was a combo of berries, I just thought it was a berry from the west! Who knew? Thank you for the info and your very kind compliment, I am truly flattered.
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This dessert screams “SUMMER!”, Eva. It’s perfect and your cottage the perfect place to serve it. And a gallete is so much easier to prepare than a pie. I very much prefer them. You’re so right about those things that California inflicts upon us. When it comes to strawberries, bigger is NOT better! Michigan strawberries are much like yours in Ontario and I love them! I’ve a friend (ahem) who’s been known to buy a quart of strawberries at the farmers market on Saturday and eat most of them strolling around the market and on the drive home. You’ll know him when you see him. He’s the handsome man with the ruby red lips and finger tips. 😀
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Dear John, thank you for your kind words. Your comments always bring a smile to my face and most often than not, a quiet chuckle (but I still get the L👀Ks on public transit!). I would love to meet the handsome man with ruby red lips 😉.
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What a fabulous summer dessert! I do love a galette—no worries about making a top crust look pretty! And with berries is the best!
P.S. I’m delighted you’re going to try my salad! Fingers crossed you enjoy 🙂
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Hi Liz, Thank you for your sweet words. At the cottage, it’s all about rustic, no special, time consuming fussing about! I’m serving the salad on tomorrow for lunch! I can’t wait to assemble it! I just love the colour blocking, so cool!
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When I lived in Florida I could get fresh turkeys almost any time of the year. Not so much in St. Louis, alas. Loads of turkey breasts, but not the whole birds. Anyway, love the look of galettes — their free-form style is so attractive. And I think berry ones are the best — you have all that wonderful color going on, too. Really nice — thanks.
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Will the retailer magazine’s Christmas edition be available for purchase? If yes I could ask my sister in Toronto to get a copy for me.
Great looking galette. I do not buy strawberries from the grocery store, eat only what I get from my garden or from the local fruit stands.
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Hi Norma, I’ll send you a link but because I was assisting, I can’t call it my work but I’m flattered that you wanted to have a copy.
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A really good butcher is a supplier to be treasured. We have one and he always gets us whatever we want. We always buy our meat from him now! A beautiful galette and we have the same issue with the really big strawberries. I think they’re grown for looks over taste 😦
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Hi Lorraine, thank you for your comment. I’ll definitely treasure that butcher!
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Hahaha!! I’m not surprised that California’s strawberries are tasteless. That state barely has water, haha!
Great score on the turkey, I agree, suuuuper hard to find at this time of the year!
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Hi Dana, I’ll definitely be going back to that butcher.
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I’m totally making this! I love that it’s so simple AND beautiful. You’re the only person I know who bakes dessert at the cottage!
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Hi Michela, baking/cooking at the cottage relaxes me. Thank you for your kind words, please post a pic of it if you do make it, I’d love to see it.
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Beautiful berries and a gorgeous galette. Yes, the strawberries we get from California are tasteless, too. I’ll bet this is lovely with the frozen basil yogurt.
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Hi Betsy, it was quite wonderful, thank you.
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It looks very inviting with all the sweet and juicy summer berries.
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Thank you Angie, it was a lovely dessert.
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Oh, the woes of a food stylist. Sounds like an amazing butcher in any case, Eva.
That’s a great looking dessert. I got some organic local strawberries (med-large and just sweet enough) last time I was grocery shopping but all I did was wash and hull them and dip them in a big bowl of slightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream. A glass of white wine and i had a nice night. 🙂
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That sounds wonderful, Maria, sometimes uncomplicated ingredients make the best desserts. Thank you for your comment.
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Looks great, Eva. Sitting by the lake with a lovely bit of warm galette, heaven. The strawberries look delicious too, I know exactly what you mean about the commercial ones. I bought some from the Richtree. They were the size of my hands, but tasted like apples!
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Hi David, thank you for your kind words. Re the huge strawberries, at least they tasted like a fruit, the California or Mexican ones we get here taste like water! The local berries are extremely expensive this year, I found a pint of wild Ontario blueberries (grown in cottage country) at a cottage market and they were $12!!! It’s crazy.
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Lovely galette, Eva xx
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