Spring is so wonderful. It’s light, airy and refreshing and brings in a magical change from the cold and dull winters. And the whole body welcomes this change so whole-heartedly.
During those foggy and mauve days of winters, when I would sit at home and slurp into hot and comforting bowls of hearty stews and soups, I’d rather get up early and start my day from a brisk morning walk on a cool spring morning.
Such is the magic it does to you, that you would want to go out more often, have more lighter food. And while you go out for a walk or jog, the cool breeze caressing through the body makes you all rejuvenated inside out.
Flowerbeds in the garden are all bloomed up, as if singing the song of pure joy and a new life. Wonderful vibrant colors every where you see! Leaves which got fallen off the trees all throughout the winters have now dried up and they are all set to catch up the rhythm of cool flowing breeze and dance along.
And the merriment continues to cheer up the food scene too. Red luscious strawberries and tart crisp apples ready to go in a light and perfect-for-the-weather dessert. Be it a crumble, crisp, tart or a rustic looking galette!
Or for that matter, a few drops of lemon squeezed into a bowl of sugared berries with a bunch of hand torn mint leaves makes for a pucker-y and refreshing dessert….so harmonious! Encasing them within a buttery and crispy crust, takes the flavor to a new high. And if the tartness is too much to handle, slather the inside of the pastry with a sweet mulberry jam.
Recipe minimally adapted from Baking with Julia
Ingredients
3 tbsp yogurt or sour cream
1/3 cup ice water
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
110 gm unsalted butter
1 cup stawberries, huled and diced
1 cup apples, chored and diced
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp suagr
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp mulberry jam {or any fruit jam of your choice}
milk for brushing the pastry
Instructions
- Stir the yogurt and ice water together and keep aside.
- Put the flour, cornmeal, 1 tsp of sugar, salt in the food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse to mix them together.
- Drop the butter pieces into the flour mixture and pulse them 8 to 10 times or until mixture resemble coarse grained bread crumb. If you don’t have food processor, you could rub the butter into flour with the help of your fingertips.
- Add the sour cream mixture and process just until the dough forms soft and moist curds.
- Remove the dough from the food processor. Divide it in half and press each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven at 200 degree Celsius and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix the strawberries, apples, 2 tbsp sugar, honey and the cornflour in a bowl and keep them aside.
- Taking a dough half one at a time, roll into an 11 inch circle that is about 1/8 inch thick. To avoid using flour while rolling, roll the pastry within two layers of plastic wrap.
- Spread 1 tbsp of jam over the rolled pastry, leaving a 2 inch border. Spread half of the fruit mixture over the jam.
- Fold the uncovered border of dough up over the filling, allowing the dough to pleat, as you lift it up and work your way around the galette.
- Dip a pastry brush in milk and give the edge of the crust a light coating and then sprinkle the crust with 1 tsp of sugar. Repeat from step 8 with the other half.
- Place the galettes on the prepared baking tray and bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp.
- Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the galettes rest on the sheet for 10 minutes and then on the wire rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
