| July 26 2010
Peaches and pecans. The combination conjures up images of a relaxed summer evening somewhere in the American South, chatting with friends and relatives while sipping lemonade or sweet tea. Porch swings may also be involved. And potentially lightning bugs.
While my images of the South may have no real basis in reality, what I do know is that here in Northern California, our peaches are pretty darn delicious right now. I also know that they pair wonderfully with the rich taste of pecans. What better way to enjoy this summer romance than with a simple galette?
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| Photo: Cary Kempston |
While galette recipes abound on food blogs and cooking websites, definitions of “galette” are harder to come by. Some people call them free-form pies, others rustic tarts or fruit pizzas.
Personally, I prefer “ridiculously simple way to showcase peak-season produce that still manages to look like you spent all day making it.”
This galette was initially inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s delicious cranberry pecan tart, which features ruby cranberries nestled in a thick layer of pecan frangipane. I wanted a similar flavor profile, but updated for summer and quicker to make.
Frangipane, pronounced FRANJ-a-pain, like galette, has several different meanings in baking, but in the United States, it generally refers to a mixture of ground nuts, sugar, butter, and eggs. Traditionally it’s made with almonds, but other nuts provide an interesting twist.
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| Photo: Cary Kempston |
Here, the frangipane is slathered onto pie dough, providing a nice flavor base for the juicy peaches, and also preventing the crust from getting soggy. As it bakes, the frangipane firms up enough to make slicing and eating easy, but still retains just enough moisture to make each bite a little gooey and completely irresistable.
Just make your favorite pie dough (or, if the heat is sapping your energy, buy frozen dough or puff pastry), whip up some pecan frangipane (only requires a handful of ingredients and 10 minutes of quality time with the food processor), slice some peaches, combine, and bake. Then enjoy on a porch swing with the people you love while sipping lemonade and watching lightning bugs.
Even if the porch swing is really your futon and the lightning bugs are only in your imagination.
Peach-Pecan Galette
Makes two small galettes, so you’ll have plenty to share. Or you could halve the recipe, but why would you want to do that?
Pecan Frangipane
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
Directions
Finely grind nuts in food processor. Add in flour and mix. Mix in sugar and butter and blend until smooth. Mix in egg. Transfer filling to small bowl. Cover and chill for at least two hours and up to two days.
Pie Crust
Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking Cookbook
Ingredients
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons ice water
Directions
Cut the butter into small pieces. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt, and stir to mix. Scatter the butter over the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips, cut in the butter until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs. Drizzle the ice water over the mixture and toss with a fork until dough is evenly moist and begins to come together.
Transfer the dough to a work surface. Divide the dough in half and form each half into a 6-inch disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour, or for up to overnight.
To Assemble
Ingredients
2 disks of chilled pie dough
1 recipe of pecan frangipane
2-3 ripe peaches, rinsed, pitted, and sliced
2 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon, optional
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
On a piece of parchment paper, roll out each disk of pie dough into an 8- or 9-inch circle. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect – it’s supposed to be rustic, remember? Slather each circle of pie dough with half of the frangipane and top with peach slices, leaving a 1-inch border all the way around the dough. Fold the border up and over the frangipane and peaches, using your fingers to pleat the border as you go. Leave the center open. Sprinkle each galette with half of the cinnamon sugar, if desired.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pie crust looks golden brown and the peaches have softened.
If it’s way too hot to turn on the oven, slice some peaches and quick-freeze them (lay the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze solid, then transfer to a freezer bag). When it cools off, use them to make this galette. If you wait till the winter, consider adding some ginger to the mix, a la this recipe, to bring a little extra summer sunshine into your kitchen.
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