food photos
recent posts
Saturday August 2, 2008; 3:37 p.m.
Date: Sep. 9th 2008
Category: Cookbooks, Flavour of the Month, Pies and Tarts
Email This
| 
Add to del.icio.us
Saturday August 2, 2008; 3:37 p.m.
That is the exact time that my vacation started. That is the time of the last e-mail I sent (to Lis, for the record). Right after that e-mail, I turned off my computer, and shortly thereafter left for the airport.
And so began three weeks of computer-free living in Italy, surrounded by my aunts, uncles and cousins.
It was bliss.
It’s difficult for me to describe the feeling of returning to Italy to my father’s family. It’s beautiful and warm and reassuring and healing and exciting and emotional and fun and nerve-wracking and stressful and transforming all in one.
My father was the second last of six children. And when I’m there, my aunts and my uncle surround me in a way that makes me feel like my father is always with me. Always, I am amazed at how much they look like him, how much they sound like him, how much they make me remember him.
For me, it’s like being in a cocoon and when my vacation is over, I emerge renewed and restored by the energy and caring of my relatives. Of course, add to the mix the fact that it’s Italy.
Gorgeous, sexy, stunning, breathtaking Italy.
Since I’ve been back people have been asking me for photos but the truth is I took very few pictures while I was there. I had no desire to operate anything more technically challenging then a fork and knife (both of which I operated quite a bit thank you very much).
For three weeks, almost no camera, no computer, no cell phone.
I love my blog and I love the Daring Bakers. Both of these entities have found a significant place in my life. But I would be lying if I didn’t say that it was nice to put the pause button on blogging.
So while I was away, I filled my free time with lots of observation.
I observed all the food that was put in front of me. I tasted everything. I smelled everything. I listened to the sound of everything cooking. I touched the fruits and vegetables and cheeses that touched my plate.
Best of all, I spent as much time as I could with my aunts. While I have spent very little time with them in the grand scheme, still, they are a major force in my life. They have become the standards to which I aspire. They are the most incredible women and everyday I feel blessed that they are a part of my life.
And I miss them terribly.
It was a small blessing then, that upon my return from vacation, I found a copy of a book called Olives & Oranges waiting for me.
Written by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox, it’s a book dedicated to the food of the Mediterranean. This beautiful book has been a great source of comfort over the past weeks. That’s why I chose it as the Flavour of the Month for September 2008.
For the first recipe, I couldn’t resist trying the Plum Galette. Just outside of an aunt’s house in Italy, there is a beautiful purple plum tree. Everyday I walked by that tree and stared in awe at its branches, absolutely laden with plums.
But they weren’t ready. Everyday I knew that I’d be leaving without tasting one of those plums this year. So as soon as I got back, I went to the farmer’s market and bought myself a basket of gorgeous purple plums. Some of them I’ve baked into this lovely tart.
And I imagine myself sitting under my aunt’s tree, staring up at those plums.
Ciao!
Plum Galette
My version of the galette in Olives & Oranges written by Sara Jenkins & Mindy Fox.I did not adapt this recipe in any way so I’m not going to share it with you here. However, if you’ve ever made a fruit tart or a fruit galette, then you shouldn’t have any problems recreating this recipe. Alternatively, I suggest you buy the book!
For the galette dough: It starts with a basic tart dough or pâte brisée. This is an excellent pâte brisée so I highly recommend using this one if you don’t want to buy the book. Instead of dividing the dough into two disks, gather it into one large disk and refrigerate it for about half an hour.
For the filling: While the dough is refrigerating, take about two pounds of plums or any other fruit you like. If using a stone fruit like plums, then simply cut them in half. If using peaches then cut the fruit into slices. Toss the fruit with a bit of lemon juice and a few tablespoons of sugar.
Assembling the galette: Once the dough has chilled, roll it out into a 13-inch circle. Arrange your fruit in the centre leaving a border. Fold the edges of the border over the fruit and then brush the border with egg wash. Sprinkle with a bit of brown sugar for caramelization.
Baking the galette: Start off by baking your galette for about 25 minutes at a high temperature (I recommend 425 degrees C.). Then lower your temperature to 375 degrees C and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until your galette crust is golden and the fruit filling has released a lot of juice and has thickened. Let the galette cool on a rack before serving.
36 Comments
Post a Comment
extras
.Magazine Mondays
Click here for more info!
Categories
- 2006 FIFA World Cup
- 2006 Winter Olympics
- Antipasti
- Baking Class
- Beans and Legumes
- Beverages
- Bread
- Brunch
- Cakes, Cheesecakes, Cupcakes and Muffins
- Canada
- Canadian Blogging By Post
- Chocolate
- Choux Pastry
- Christmas
- Coconut
- Comfort Food
- Cookbooks
- Cookies and Bars
- Cooking Italy
- Dairy
- Daring Bakers
- Dessert and Pastry
- Drinks
- Events
- Fish and Seafood
- Flavour of the Month
- Food Blog Awards
- Food of Piemonte
- Fruit
- Gnocchi, Pasta, Pizza and Rice
- Ice Cream
- Italian Sweets
- La Festa al Fresco
- Lemon
- Magazine Mondays
- Meat and Poultry
- MEMEs
- News
- Panini, Sandwiches and Tramezzini
- Pies and Tarts
- Potlucks
- Preserves
- Salads and Dressings
- Soup
- Sugar High Fridays
- Sweet Snacks
- The Daring Bakers
- The Daring Cooks
- The Travelling Cream Puff
- Treasured Family Recipes
- Uncategorized
- Vegetables
- Weblogs
More Links
- Alpineberry
- Caramels, Bonbons et Chocolats
- Confessions of a Cardamom Addict
- Cherry's English Kitchen
- It's My Life
- Tip of the Iceberg
- DavidLebovitz.com
- Dessert First
- Eye for a Recipe
- Hungry In Hogtown
- Jumbo Empanadas
- Kochtopf
- Le Moulin
- Make Life Sweeter!
- Living Venice … and Beyond
- Italian Cooking Recipes
- Joonbug.com (New York)
- Once Upon A Feast
- Pinch My Salt
- Posie Gets Cozy
- Rubber Slippers in Italy
- Scrumptious Street
- Seven Spoons
- Still Life With
- The Flying Apple
- The Second Helping House
- My Kitchen in Half Cups
- Winosandfoodies
- Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow
- 101 Cookbooks
- A Blithe Palate
- ACE Bakery
- All Recipes
- All Things Edible
- Scones, Muffins, and Tea Cakes
- Trattoria Cooking
- Dip It!
- Panini, Bruschetta, Crostini
- Chez Panisse Vegetables
- Perfect Cakes
- Chez Panisse Fruit
- Italy in Small Bites
- Marcella Says
- Once Upon a Tart
- The Cook and the Gardener
- The Weekend Baker
- Chez Panisse Desserts
- Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
- The Good Cookie
- Lorenza's Pasta
- The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
- Barefoot Contessa Parties!
- The Babbo Cookbook
- Rustico
- Barefoot Contessa Family Style
- The Complete Book of Baking
- How to Be a Domestic Goddess
- An Alphabet of Sweets
- Death By Chocolate Cookies
- Canadian Living Cooks Step By Step
- Breads from the La Brea Bakery
- The Art of Eating Well
- On Food and Cooking
- The Pie and Pastry Bible
- The All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking
- The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook
- The Cake Bible
- Baking with Julia
- Italy Al Dente
- The Food of Italy
- The Silver Spoon
- Celebration Breads
- Williams-Sonoma Collection: Dessert
- More From Magnolia
- Paris Sweets
- Pure Chocolate
- Cheesecakes
- Biscotti
- Sweet Miniatures
- Afternoon Delights
- Luscious Chocolate Desserts
- The Simple Art of Perfect Baking
- Essentials of Baking
- The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
- The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
- Easiest and Best Coffee Cakes and Quick Breads
- Out to Brunch
- Barefoot in Paris
- Everyday Italian
- Wanda's Pie in the Sky
- For the Love of Soup
- Truly Madly Pasta
- The ACE Bakery Cookbook
- Salad Dressing 101
- Biscuit Bliss
- Party Nuts!
- French Farmhouse Cookbook
- Fagioli
- Avventura
- Bittersweet
- Home Baking
- Bread Made Easy
- Soffritto
- Pasta!
- Caprial's Desserts
- The Great Chocolate Book
- Risotto
- Bread
- Brunch
- Buonissimo!
- Recipes from an Italian Terrace
- A Passion for Chocolate
- Basic Italian
- Simple Italian Sandwiches
- Mediterranean Street Food
- The French Market
- Patricia Wells' Trattoria
- The Italian Baker
- A Thousand Days in Venice
- Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
- The Zuni Cafe Cookbook
- All About Braising
- Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating
- The Cake Book
- Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague
- Larousse Gastronomique
- Baking: From My Home to Yours
- The Chef's Table
- Chez Panisse Pasta, Pizza, Calzone
- Rose's Christmas Cookies
- A Passion for Piedmont
- The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook
- Williams-Sonoma Collection: Cake
- Italian Farmhouse Cookbook
- The New Food Lover's Companion
- Pizza (Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library)
- Luscious Lemon Desserts
- A Passion for Desserts
- Caramel
- Delicious Dips
- Luscious Berry Desserts
- The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook
- Cupcakes!
- A Passion for Ice Cream
- Coffee Cakes
- A Sweet Quartet
- Sunday Suppers at Lucques
- Kitchen Sense
- Cheese: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best
- Wing It!
- Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings
- The Best Quick Breads
- Iced Tea
- Artisan Baking
- Bread for Breakfast
- The Cheese Board: Collective Works
- Les Halles Cookbook
- Simple Soirees
- Twelve: A Tuscan Cook Book
- Al Forno
- Italian Vegetables
- Meze
- The Lost Art of Baking With Yeast: Delicious Hungarian Cakes & Pastries
- BakerBites
- Baking and Books
- La Tartine Gourmande
- BetterBaking.com
- Cottage Chic Living by Cherry Menlove
- Chez Pim
- Chocolate & Zucchini
- Chocolatier
- The Cookbook Store
- Cooking.com
- Cook's Illustrated
- La Cucina Italiana On Line
- Cucina Testa Rossa
- Delicious Cafe
- Delicious Days
- Epicurious
- Flickr
- Food & Wine
- Foodbeam
- Foodieblogs.net
- FoodieView
- Food for Thought - A Foodtv.ca blog
- Golda's Kitchen
- Il Forno
- International Recipes
- Is My Blog Burning?
- ItalianMade.com
- Joy Of Cooking
- Our Adventures in Japan
- Kitchen Connaisseur
- La Toile Maison
- Leite's Culinaria
- Lidia's Italy
- Lori Longbotham
- Lucullian Delights
- Market Hall Foods
- Living in Florence
- Michaelaram.com
- Monika Korngut's Delicious Living
- Orangette
- Pastry Arts and Design
- Pastry Chef Central
- Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum
- The Republic of Tea
- ReTorte
- Rustico Cooking
- Saveur
- Simply Recipes
- Slashfood
- Taste T.O.
- The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz
- The Perfect Pantry
- Tish Boyle: Sweet Dreams
- Tomato_Kumato
- The Traveler's Lunchbox
- The Vanilla.COMpany
09/9/08 at 6:21 am
Welcome back! I’m glad you had a very good time in Italy! It is sometimes needed to make a break…
That Plum Galette looks delicious! Plums are some of my favorite fruits!
Cheers,
Rosa
09/9/08 at 6:32 am
It sounds like you really did manage to get away from it all, and a family vacation–when one loves one’s family–is just the right thing to recharge your batteries.
Glad to have you back, and the plum galette looks wonderful!
09/9/08 at 6:40 am
Welcome back! That plum galette looks just perfect.
09/9/08 at 6:51 am
Welcome back — and thank you for sharing some of the warmth of your vacation and your family with us.
09/9/08 at 6:53 am
That looks so delicious. I am so glad that you had such a wonderful vacation.
09/9/08 at 7:06 am
glad to see you are back. this looks wonderful!
09/9/08 at 7:16 am
Great to see you back! Sounds like you had an amazing holiday.
Oh and the galette looks gorgeous too
09/9/08 at 7:56 am
Wow, your trip to Italy sounds so ideal.. it is so nice to have a true break from technology and most of us do not get that luxury very often, so it is nice to enjoy it to the full extent, which I’m glad you did! Your family sounds amazing, and being in Italy must have been a dream! And that recipe sounds lovely- the farmer’s market is tonite here, I might have to journey down the hill to get some plums, yum! xo!
09/9/08 at 8:07 am
So glad you had a good time - it’s always wonderful to be surrounded by family. And I see you’re already in full baking mode again - beautiful galette!
09/9/08 at 8:13 am
Serendipity! I just tripped across a similar recipe for Plum Galette, but, alas, no picture. Two days later and here I am staring face to face with some gorgeous pictures of, yes, a Plum Galette!
Okay. Now I have to go make one of my own.
Cheers!
09/9/08 at 9:55 am
It’s great to have you back, and I just bought a bunch of plums!
09/9/08 at 10:07 am
Ivonne, your vacation sounds like it was BEYOND phenomenal - I understand how bittersweet it is for you though, to have to end the vacation. But I am glad that your back, of course!!
And wow, that galette looks lovely.
09/9/08 at 10:10 am
Glad you had a good time. Your galette looks scrumptious.
Paz
09/9/08 at 1:18 pm
seems you had quite a nice time in Italy. Welcome back. I missed your posts
09/9/08 at 4:23 pm
glad to hear you had such a beautiful vacation! i am all pro- tuning out while away! your plum galette looks delicious can’t wait to see what else you make from this book!
09/9/08 at 9:00 pm
It truly does sound like bliss, Ivonne. I know exactly how you feel. I’m so glad that you had such a relaxing and fulfilling vacation. I’m also glad to have you back. The galette looks stunning!
09/9/08 at 10:26 pm
Welcome back! I’m glad you had such a lovely time (and good for you for not computing!). You are so lucky to have such a connection to your family and your *other* culture.
As for this tart::SWOON::
09/10/08 at 3:50 am
So nice that you had a good time with your family. And so nice to have you back.
09/10/08 at 6:01 am
dear ivonne - i can so understand simply putting a pause on the blog button. it’s the sensation of being totally relaxed, without thinking about the next post or the next food shot!while i love it - a break always helps.
i am so touched by hearing about your family! great plum galette!
09/10/08 at 6:52 am
I also found this ‘pause’ button’ you speak of here. It is a different place in life . . . doesn’t make my blogging friends less real, it seemed to enhance them.
Savoring family … is that like layers of flavor in a dish ;0)
09/10/08 at 7:04 am
What a wonderful recipe! Thank you!
09/10/08 at 8:51 am
Glad you had a fun time in Italy! Sounds like a dream trip to me!
What a stunning dessert!
09/10/08 at 10:40 am
I’m glad your back and well rested. It’s nice to get away once in awhile.
09/10/08 at 11:54 am
Ahh, Italia. Ti amo, Italy! Where in Italy does your family live? I spent a month in Florence and Rome in May/June, am off to Venice on Saturday! I can’t stay away!
09/11/08 at 1:37 am
So glad you had such a wonderful time on your vacation. And just think, only two more weeks until preseason.
The plums are just gorgouse in your dessert!
09/11/08 at 2:53 pm
Sounds like a perfect holiday Ivonne. It’s always nice to leave the technology at home for a little while. The plum galette looks wonderful. Good to have you back.
09/11/08 at 9:47 pm
I’m so glad you had some a wonderful vacation! The plum galette looks amazing. Your photos keep getting better all the time.
Four more days to training camp!
09/11/08 at 11:02 pm
Your plum dessert is really beautiful!
09/12/08 at 4:37 am
[…] Food Here and There: Some people like pictures of sunsets. Some like pictures of flowers. And some like pictures of food. […]
09/12/08 at 12:21 pm
Hi Ivonne! Welcome home! Looks like you’re still baking up all things delicious
09/12/08 at 4:47 pm
[…] and Mindy Fox, the authors of Olives & Oranges, a lovely little book that I first mentioned here. Early on in the book, there’s a recipe for a refreshing and vibrant carrot […]
09/13/08 at 10:51 am
What a delicious looking dessert! It must be special to you asit must bring back wonderful memories of your trip to Italy.
ciao..
09/14/08 at 5:56 pm
The galette is beautiful! Both sets of grandparents came to the US from Sicily. I have yet to go. Most of my relatives came to the US. But, I so terribly want to see where it is my grandparents lived and walk the roads they walked. It is wondeful you have the opportunity to visit!
09/15/08 at 6:31 am
Rowena-I wanted to thank you for all your great recipes. I was looking for inspiration for a vegetable tart and looked at all of your tarts and you’ve inspired me.
09/16/08 at 1:15 am
What a lovely, lovely post. I am so pleased to hear about your time spent observing, and soaking it all up. That really is the essence of living and very much emphasized when traveling. Your aunts sound lovely and I often aspire to be that type of relative also. Ben tornata!
09/14/09 at 5:47 pm
[…] blogged about the plum tart pictured above here. Now that we have our very own kitchen in Italy, I took a handful of recipes with me to try and […]