Simple Peach Galette

The finished galette

This great looking, and tasting, dessert is also amazingly simple to make. Just a few ingredients, and most of them are pre-made, so it is very simple.

This type of pastry is called a Galette in France. The name is given in general to flat, round, crusty cakes. Well, mine isn't round, but... it's still a galette.

The thing that makes this simple is that the pastry is pre-made, and the peaches come from a can or jar. Just a few other ingredients, and it is done. You can usually find the pastry crust frozen; they can be round, square, and various types. The one I used here is a "puff pastry" meaning it is several layers, and it gets very nice, crusty and crispy when it bakes. A regular pie crust of course would be fine.. and I read a recipe once by the wonderful chef Jacques Pepin, where he actually used a flour tortilla for the crust! How cool is that?



Ingredients:
- Jar of peaches in syrup; save 1/4 cup of the syrup
- Puff pastry - pre-made; usually these are found in a frozen food section
- A few tablespoons of preserves - I used apricot in this recipe
- A few tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1 oz shot of Cachaca; whiskey or cognac is a great substitute
- parchment paper for baking

The ingredients

Procedure:
- Melt butter, stir in brown sugar, 1/4 syrup from the peaches, and cachaca - simmer this slowly to reduce by about 1/3 or 1/2... watching it to make sure it does not thicken too much or burn; you want the consistancy to be a bit thick so it coats the peaches nicely.
- Lay out the pastry on the parchment paper, and smear on apricot preserves. Fold the edges of the pastry to form a barrier so the juices don't run over the edge. See the picture.
- Arrange the peaches. Also see the picture of the arranged peaches.
- Pour the reduce syrup over the peaches, and sprinkle with a little more brown sugar.
- Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes; watching it carefully to see it brown nicely. I like to bake on top of parchment paper; this will guarantee that it wont stick on the baking pan and get ruined.
- You can sprinkle some cinnamon on top if desired.

The preserves on the pastry

Arranging the peaches

Impromptu Avocado-Tomatoe Salad

This idea came up from some left over veggies sitting around... It is easy & delicious. We were having steaks, and wanted a cool, refreshing salad to go with.

Ingredients:
- Avocado
- Corn
- Cucumber
- Tomato
- Balsamic Vinegar

Procedure:
- All the veggies should be cut into small pieces to get an attractive mix of ingredients.
- So, dice a couple tomatoes, a cucumber, and an avocado
- For the corn, we had a left over corn-on-the-cob from the day before. I sliced this off the cob, and sauteed over high heat in a little oil. Any kind of oil is fine. Just brown the corn, and let it cool a bit before mixing so it doesn't cook the other veggies.
- Mix everything in a bowl, season however you like (a little salt and pepper for us), and drizzle with a good Balsamic vinegar.

That's all there is to it.