This is how I always start strawberry season, with a galette. So simple, so delicious, so me…
My passion for cooking is so great that I’ll try making anything that takes my fancy whether it’s a simple or complicated recipe. I often spend a couple of days in the kitchen for a certain dish. I don’t easily scare of recipes with multiple steps and enjoy trying different techniques. But it’s not really possible to cook/bake time consuming dishes on a daily basis. We all need to have a list of key recipes that are easy and quick to prepare and utterly delicious at the same time. ‘Galette’ is one such recipe… So simple it doesn’t require any special skills and with a beauty hidden in its imperfections. It will surely surprise and please you with how delicious it is.
The first galette I ever made was a strawberry one and it remained one of my favourites. I make it a lot so I try to mix it up and play with the filling sometimes. I use different ground nuts or add chocolate so it never gets boring. This time I wanted to do something to the berries and marinated them with fresh basil and coarsely ground blackpepper. Basil is a herb that I use a lot in my cooking and love it’s flavour combined with various fruits. Black pepper might sound a little less usual but it’s a perfect match with strawberries as it intensifies their sweetness. You should try serving your fresh berries drizzled with balsamic vinegar and freshly ground black pepper.
I first spread some ground almonds mixed with a little sugar on the rolled pie crust. Then on top of that I placed the strawberries marinated with vanilla, lemon zest, sugar, basil and freshly ground black pepper.
Then I fold the excess dough over the fruit and brush it with a little milk. After sprinkling with a little brown sugar, it goes straight into the preheated oven. With one batch of pie crust you can make 4 or 5 mini galettes. I even made 6 once but the folded pastry comes a little short then, still it can be done. The best thing about mini galettes, apart from their cuteness, is that you can use a different fruit for each one.
We are gonna use the same Basic Pie Crust recipe that I’ve shared on my other Strawberry Galette post. I will write it again for you but if you have no or little experience with pie crust you should take a look at that post as you’ll find some tips and a more detailed explanation on how to make a fabulous pie crust.
I really hope you give this combination a chance : )
- PIE CRUST
- 115 gr butter (cut into cubes and kept in the freezer for 15-20 mins prior to using)
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour (175 gr)
- 1 Tbs granulated sugar
- 3 Tbs water + 1 Tbs apple cider vinegar (ice cold)
- ½ ts salt
- .
- 1 pound strawberries (½ kg)
- 3-4 Tbs granulated sugar
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 1 lemon (grated zest)
- 1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 8-10 fresh basil leaves
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- .
- 2 Tbs ground almonds
- 1 Tbs granulated sugar
- .
- 2 Tbs milk
- 1 Tbs brown sugar
- Place flour, sugar and salt in your food processor with the ice cold butter and whizz using short pulses until the butter pieces are the size of a pea.
- Add 3 Tbs of the water and vinegar mixture and mix for a few seconds. Squeeze a piece of dough to see if it's moist enough, the dough should just hold together, add the rest of the liquid if the dough falls apart in your hand.
- Bring dough together without kneading, form into a disk, wrap in plastic and rest in the fridge for an hour.
- Halve or quarter the strawberries if they are very large and mix with the sugar, corn starch, lemon zest, vanilla, black pepper and julienned basil. Marinate for 15-20 mins.
- Divide the pie dough into 4 or 5 pieces and roll each one on parchment paper to a ⅛ inch thickness.
- Mix ground almonds with one Tbs of sugar and divide between the rolled crusts making sure to leave an inch of border.
- Place the strawberries in the middle, draining most of their juice and fold the excess pastry over the fruit.
- Brush with milk and sprinkle about a table spoon of brown sugar all over the crust.
- Bake in a preheated oven 180 C (350 F) for 30-35 mins or until you have a deep golden crust.
- Let cool slightly and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
The pie dough freezes well and will keep for two months if wrapped tightly with plastic.
Once the fruit is cooked they will lose their beautiful colour and become dull, to avoid this you can place a few cubes of butter on the fruit before baking. Or if like me you don't want to add the extra calories you can brush the juice that's ended up in the baking sheet on the berries.
Strawberries will release plenty of juice once mixed with sugar and the other things. It's best to drain the berries before placing on the dough as it will make the crust soggy. Save it to drizzle over the cream or ice cream when serving.