Ontario Strawberry and Blueberry Galette

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!

Ontario Strawberries are generally small, sweet, little heart-shaped berries.

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!

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:

1. 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.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (176 °C) (I have convection (fan) at the cottage).
3. 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.
4. 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).
5. 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.

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