21 Sep Late Summer Fruit Galette with Basil Whipped Cream
Hey Internet, slooowwww down with all this apple, pumpkin, spice business, okay? The first day of fall is an *entire day away*, and I don’t plan on bidding summer fruit adieu until well into October. (In Austin, it will be 90F+ until then, anyway.) Okay, okay. So what if I’m making excuses for this this post getting up waaaay past due. It’s not too late for nectarines, I promise. (And if it actually is in your neck of the woods, pears and/or apples would work beautifully here.)
I do kind of (definitely) relate to the whole fall hype thing. A couple of weeks ago, we spent some time in upstate New York for Steve’s brother’s wedding (my future brother-in-law…I’ve never had a brother!) and there was definitely a fall crispness in the air — I spent several evenings seeking out the last rays of sunlight for warmth. At one point, I even had Steve dragging corn hole boards across a football-sized field because I refused to compete in the shade. (We won.)
And you can imagine my shock, when on the night of the wedding we danced late into the wee hours (congrats Rob & Larissa!), and then stepped out of the tent to discover I could see pretty little puffs of condensation as I spoke. Yes folks, I could see my breath. In September. Then, in that goosebump-covered moment, I could feel fall rapidly approaching.
But back home in balmy Austin, the only goosebumps I’m going to encounter for at least two months more will be when I stand too close to an air conditioning vent. Ohhh Texas, I do love you, though.
My local market is still full of late summer nectarines and nearly-ripe plums, the kind that make you wish summer would never end…until of course you order that first PSL. My apologies if your market has already moved on to fall’s bounty, but like I said, apples! Steve tends to buy nectarines and plums in bulk, hoping that we can spend most of our week sticky-chinned, slurping through a surplus of juicy stone fruit. But poor planning on his part (we still need 12 plums, even if we’re going out of town on Tuesday, right?) meant that the day before it was time to start packing, I had a stash of summer fruit to find a home for.
More summer fruit than can be eaten fresh can only mean one thing: pie. Okay, a galette, which is basically pie but with half the fuss…which is most certainly my kind of “pie”. I think you like where this is going, yeah? In this case, I used our overstock of nectarines, plums and blackberries, tucked them into a rustic, flaky, butterful envelope, and then topped the finished product with basil-indused whipped cream, so addictive that you’ll find yourself eating it by the spoonful. Perfect for sending off summer in [delicious] style.
XO,
Katie
NOTES ABOUT THIS RECIPE:
Pie crust…don’t be scared! This pie crust is sooo easy and forgiving, and comes together beautifully (and without the mess) in a food processor. The most important thing is to keep the ingredients COLD — when in doubt, chill! Chill the dough in a disk for AT LEAST an hour, four+ is preferable, again after rolling if it needs it, and then make sure it spends some quality time in the freezer after assembling and before baking. It can also stay on the same sheet of parchment paper from the disk/chilling phase all the way through baking and cooling.
Don’t skip the almond meal! The purpose of the almond meal is to keep the bottom layer of pie crust from getting soggy during and post-baking. It soaks up all the yummy juices that the peaches give off as they bake, plus adds a delicious nutty flavor — win, win! If you don’t have almond meal you can substitute bread crumbs.
No nectarines or plums? This galette would work equally as deliciously with peaches, apples, pears, or berries. Once you have the method down, customize until your heart’s content!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup cold buttermilk plus 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons more if your dough is dry
- 2-3 medium nectarines, sliced
- 2-3 small plums, sliced
- handful of blackberries
- 1/3 cup brown sugar (more if your fruit isn't ripe)
- juice & zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 1 egg whisked with a splash of water
- turbinado sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8-10 fresh basil leaves, julienned
- 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine with flour, salt and sugar and pulse to combine. Scatter the butter cubes over the top of the flour and pulse about 10 times, until slightly mixed but there are still large chunks. Pour in the cold buttermilk and pulse until there are some chunks of butter the size of large peas, some smaller. The dough is should be shaggy, and is moist enough if it sticks together when pinched between your fingers.
- Pour dough out onto a floured sheet of parchment paper. Form into a disk then wrap in parchment and plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, up to overnight.
- In a large bowl, combine the nectarines, plums, blackberries, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix to make sure the fruit is well coated. Let sit for 10 minutes. Some juices will release from the fruit; this will help ensure your galette is not too wet.
- While still on the parchment, roll out the buttermilk pie dough into an approximately 10-inch circle. If the dough has become warm, place back into the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to re-chill.
- Sprinkle the almond meal over the dough, leaving about 2 inches around the border.
- Arrange the fruit on top of the almond meal (leaving the juiced in the bottom of the bowl), either in a uniform swirl shape or in a more "rustic" fashion.
- Fold the edges of the dough in over the fruit, pleating the edges as you work your way around the fruit to form a free-form tart that is roughly 9 inches in diameter.
- While still on the parchment, place the galette onto a baking sheet and place into the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour. This will help the galette maintain its shape during baking.
- Once chilled, preheat the oven to 400F. Remove from the freezer, brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle liberally with raw sugar.
- Bake the galette for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and the juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a cooling rack (just lift over the whole sheet of parchment).
- In a small saucepan, warm the cream over low heat. When just slightly bubbling, add the julienned basil and stir to coat.
- Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes, then strain the basil from the cream. Place the cream in the refrigerator and chill completely.
- When ready to whip, pour the cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on high until cream is thick and fluffy.
- Serve dolloped on top of slices of galette.
Heather (delicious not gorgeous)
Posted at 12:39h, 21 Septemberlove that gif! and the idea of using almond meal instead of breadcrumbs to soak up the juices sounds amazing; i love the flavor of almond meal much more than breadcrumbs (:
Chelsea | The Whole Bite
Posted at 06:49h, 22 SeptemberThis looks so delicious! Definitely not too late to be using up some of that last summer fruit. Although doing this with apples sounds amazing too. Great post!
Sabrina
Posted at 05:54h, 23 SeptemberThis looks absolutely gorgeous! And I love the idea of using almond meal, too!