When Life Gives You Lemons! Part Two....

I know what you're thinking. Where on earth did she get that tre' cool bowl? That would be my lovely Mother-in-law, found by her at an estate sale. I have no idea whether it's old or new but it is by far one of my very favorite pieces.

Martha's recipe called for you to separate the dough into two discs. If you want a large galette, combine both discs; if you want two small ones, then keep them separate. I usually go for the gusto and make one big one. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a large round circle. Place on a lightly buttered, small rimmed baking sheet. Pour the plum mixture into the center (leave a two inch border on all sides) and fold the dough up around the center of the mixture. You're creating a window for the fruit mixture to peek through so make the window as big or as small as you want it. Bake at 375 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 40 minutes. For smaller galettes, shorten the time and watch so they don't burn. Remove from oven and let stand until completely cooled.

A little note on adding nuts to your recipes: In the Midwest we add nuts to everything, I am not sure if it's a texture thing or adding more heartiness to a dish, regardless, we put nuts in everything, everything dessert that is. Here in the Pacific Northwest you don't find this quite as often, they prefer their desserts to be "female" in other words no nuts. So your choice, but I definitely prefer the texture that nuts bring to pastry dishes such as these.

~Shannon           

When Life Gives You Lemons! Part one.....

When life gives you lemons or in my case when your totally awesome neighbor gives you copious amounts of plums, you make plum galette. I am not a fan of super sweet desserts so this wonderful French pastry is perfect.The rich, flaky crust, can be made so many ways, they can be sweet and savory, simple or more complex. Some people add nuts, almond butter, the list goes on and on. Leave it to the French to corner the market on pastries.

I prefer simple and have found that the best pâté brisée (your basic pastry dough) recipe is from Martha Stewart. It's simple, quick, easy, and in my opinion tasty. Her recipe can be found here.

You can use any number of fruit/nut combinations for your galette so be creative. I chose plums as you can clearly see. Toss the following items together in a bowl:

• 1 1/2 pounds (net) of plums cleaned, pitted and sliced
• 1/4 cup of golden raisins, I like to plump them up in a little warm water or Cointreau
• 1/4 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar depending on the sweetness you desire or the ripeness of the plums
• zest of one lemon
• 2 tablespoons of flour

So my first blogging challenge, I talk too much! I cannot fit this entire recipe on one page so I am forced to continue into When Life Gives You Lemons....Part Two. I hope you feel the energy to catch me on the second post....to be continued.

                                                                                               ~Shannon              

                                                              

Seriously....am I really doing this?

I love food. I always have. Raised in the Midwest food was about family gatherings, nutrition after a hard days work, comfort in the most unbelievable cold winters and insanely hot summers. Food was fresh, farm grown, local, seasonal, and comforting. There I go again, using the word comfort. There is nothing like the creamy taste of my Mom's pasta salad, the smell of pork and sauerkraut braising all day for the impending Sunday Family dinner, or the fresh from the field, slathered with butter corn on the cob that could melt away every bad day I had ever had. Food was comfort. Food is comfort.

I read a book sometime back, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle and it was this book that REALLY began my obsession or love for food, or maybe my love for talking about food. The Author's ability to bring life, vision and depth to food was amazing to me, I could actually taste the food as I read the book, I could see it, feel the textures he described like I was sitting at the table with him. I was hooked. I would love to have the ability to describe foods the way he did, to describe them so well that people could taste it and want more the further into the book they went. 

I have no idea where this will go, what I will do with this blog, in fact I will likely never allow it to become public, or maybe that happens automatically? What is a blog? I guess that is best saved for another post. 

Writing about my love for food and my experiences with food gives me comfort. Comfort. Maybe it will bring comfort to someone else, or make someone laugh incessantly because I have no idea what I am doing. I'm okay with that.

                                                                       Life is a gastronomic affair!  
                                                                                                                      ~Shannon