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Mixed Fruit Galette

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Before the luscious summer fruit season ends, you must make a Mixed Fruit Galette and wow everyone who sees it!!

Begin with the pie crust

You see, it’s really very simple. Make a buttery pie crust – why everyone is so afraid of pie crust when they’re really very easy, I don’t know.  Someone must have given them a bad rap some years ago!  Don’t let them daunt you.

It’s flour, a little salt, butter and ice water. Four basic ingredients, of course mixed with LOVE. Sure, you can add some vodka or cider vinegar so maybe it’s 6 ingredients, but don’t forget the LOVE.

Mixed fruits are the best!

Roll that baby out and fill that crust with a variety of mixed fruits, a little lemon, vanilla and cornstarch and you’ve got yourself a beautiful, simple, even healthy dessert as there’s not much sugar.

Dot it with fresh blueberries and some thyme leaves when finished baking and you’ll present a real showstopper. I prefer the pop of the fresh blueberries added afterwards because when cooked, they just collapse and spread the messy dark blue juice everywhere.

And the thyme leaves create a different floral component to the dessert that’s unexpected and delicious, while the sprinkle of sugar on top gives it that extra special glisten.

Serve your Mixed Fruit Galette with crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream, sit back, relax, and enjoy all the compliments!

Make this for one of your Labor Day weekend parties and create a loving memory for all there.

Ok, so I used too much butter in this crust dough and it cracked and leaked, but no matter, it still tasted amazing!

MIXED FRUIT GALETTE – serves 6 – 8

One pie crust – use the recipe here or here
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 Tbs.
1/4 tsp. salt
1.5 lbs. of mixed peaches, peeled and cut into 1-inch-thick wedges, tiny apricots cut in half or red plums cut in quarters or fresh figs, stems removed and cut in half, or blackberries
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg, beaten
4 thyme sprigs, leaves removed
A handful of blueberries
Crème Fraiche or vanilla ice cream for serving

Directions

Unwrap chilled pie crust dough, and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out about 1/8 inch thick. Place dough circle on a parchment paper–lined rimmed baking sheet, and chill, uncovered, until firm, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk together cornstarch, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add peaches, apricots, plums, figs and blackberries, melted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla, and toss to combine.

Arrange fruit mixture in center of chilled dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold dough edges up and over filling (dough will only partially cover filling), pleating every 3 inches. Lightly brush folded dough edges with beaten egg. Sprinkle dough edges and filling with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (without opening oven door), and bake until crust is golden brown and fruit mixture bubbles in the middle, 40 to 45 minutes.

Transfer baking sheet with the mixed fruit galette to a wire rack, and let cool 30 minutes. Dot the galette with the fresh blueberries and thyme leaves. Serve galette warm, or let cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour. Serve with crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream and LOVE.

Best Blueberry Pie – Mary’s Version

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It’s blueberry season and I had been having a craving for this Best Blueberry Pie– it’s the pie by Rose Levy Beranbaum from Food 52. Only now I have remade the recipe – Best Blueberry Pie – Mary’s Version!

The weekend before last, I was invited to my new friend Maria’s house in Bayville, NY. Her home is smack dab right on the water, the beautiful Long Island Sound. It is just gorgeous! Maria is also a recent widow like me, and has a terrific group of great friends who get together on a regular basis. They are all foodies and wine snobs, so I fit right in.

For a dinner party at her friends’ house we were tasked with bringing dessert. Maria suggested to go buy something but since it was cloudy, non-beach weather on Saturday, I suggested I make something. And I must say, this new version of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Blueberry Pie was spectacular! Everyone LOVED it – calling it the perfect dessert, not too sweet, the crust was so flakey, so many positive comments, even on the next day. I always think that if people are still remembering and talking about your food the next day, then you’ve made a real hit! 

This is a masterpiece pie to look at and eat. In reality, the berries glisten like jewels and I just love the fresh pop of taste with the uncooked berries.

Truth be told, this pie was made under distressed conditions in that Maria is not a baker. She did not have a pastry cutter or cloth or rolling pin cover and her pie plate was particularly deep.

This pie crust is a pretty big deviation from my normal, Mom’s pie crust recipe. But this is the ONE to keep! And I made my recipe so much easier than Rose Levy Beranbaum’s.

YOUR LOVE AS ONE OF YOUR INGREDIENTS

Remember it is always about the quality of the ingredients you use, along with the amount of LOVE you put in.

Here, I used Plugra unsalted butter, the best blueberries you can find, freshest lemons and even homemade vanilla that her friend, Glenn, had made. 

For the crust, the two phases of refrigeration in the recipe are very important. These cold portions will help to produce a very flakey crust so please do not skip them.

The gorgeous fried chicken and celeriac salad.

The fried chicken dinner with broccoli rabe and a celeriac salad was all too delicious. Not only was I over-served on great Nebbiolo wines but I over-served myself on the chicken too! So good.

It was super fun to be in a different area – Long Island – to me is like another state. On Friday night we met up with the mutual friend who had introduced Maria and me, for a long dinner at a local restaurant. On Saturday morning, we met up with that same friend and her group of friends for a hike through this beautiful wooded area that used to hold all of the Gold Coast mansions with everyone’s dogs (Maria has two). One of the friends is Italian so Maria and I got to practice our ISL – Italian as a second language. So fun!

SUCH HAPPY MEMORIES

Saturday night was the fabulous dinner party. Her friends were so warm and welcoming. Most of them came over to Maria’s house on Sunday, bringing a beautiful brunch. It was a glorious beach day on Sunday, all of us full and happy, sipping on beers, tequila or Bloody Mary’s, lying in front of the LI Sound just enjoying each other and the beauty. This reminded me of my younger days, pre-children, when Steve and I would visit friends in the Hamptons, enjoying a hungover Sunday sweating it out in the sun. So now I am creating new memories.

Best blueberry pie with blackberries, two pieces with vanilla ice cream.
Here is a pic from the first time I made this – with ice cream and some added blackberries.

The recipe:

BEST BLUEBERRY PIE – MARY’S VERSION – serves 8

PIE CRUST – for a 9” pie

8 TBS. unsalted very cold Plugra butter 
1 1/3 cups bleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
3 TBS. ice water
1½ tsp. cider vinegar
1 TBS. egg white, lightly beaten

Toss the flour and salt together with a fork in a medium sized bowl.

Cut the cold butter into very small chunks by cutting the stick lengthwise into 4 quarters and then slice those quarters into ¼” pieces.

Put all of the butter into the flour mixture and using your fingers on both hands, mix and mash the butter and flour together until no chunks of butter are visible. It all has to be incorporated together otherwise you will get butter holes in your crust.

Then sprinkle on the vinegar and toss together with a fork. Sprinkle on a tablespoon of ice water, (one tablespoon at a time), toss with a fork, and repeat with the remaining two tablespoons. Your dough will now hold together and may seem a bit too wet but trust me, it is ok. 

Form the dough into a thick disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 – 2 hours or overnight. This dough can also be frozen for 3 months for future use if you want to make a double recipe.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and  if necessary, allow it to sit for about 10 minutes until soft enough to roll out. On a floured surface – pastry cloth or parchment paper – with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to ⅛” thick and fit into your 9” pie pan, crimping the edges as shown in the photo.

Refrigerate the pie crust shell for at least one hour, with a maximum of 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Line the pie crust shell with parchment paper and weigh it down with dried beans or rice, trimming the corners of the extra parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes, checking at 10 minutes to rotate the pan so one side does not get too brown (as mine did). At the 20 minute mark, lift up and remove the parchment and beans or rice. Then with a fork, lightly prick the crust all over the sides and bottom to prevent it from bubbling up. Do not prick hard and all the way through as you do not want to create holes.

Place the crust back into the oven to lightly brown completely, baking for 5 – 10 minutes more. Check it at the 3 minute mark. It should be a pale golden brown all over.

Remove the crust and cool on a rack for 3 minutes. 

Separate the egg yolk from the egg white and lightly whisk the white with a fork. Brush the inside of the pie crust with the egg white. This will keep it from getting soggy with the blueberries.

FOR THE BLUEBERRY FILLING

4 – 5 cups blueberries, rinsed and dried. Save a handful for garnish.
2 TBS. cornstarch
2 TBS. water
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
1 TBS. lemon juice
Good pinch of salt
2 cups whipped heavy cream, lightly sweetened with 1 TBS. powdered sugar and 1 TBS. vanilla extract

Combine 1 cup of blueberries with ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water in a medium sized pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 3 – 6 minutes until the berries pop and it becomes nice and liquidy and starts to thicken, stirring constantly.

Meanwhile, whisk together the cornstarch and water.

Have your fresh lemon juice ready.

Whisk in the cornstarch and water mixture, the lemon juice and salt. Simmer for a minute until the mixture becomes translucent. Immediately off heat, fold in the remaining blueberries, being sure to cover all berries with the jammy mixture.

Spoon into the pie crust, gently spreading the mixture all over.

Let the pie set at room temperature for at least 2 hours before cutting.

Just before serving whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla and gently spread in a small circle on top, in the center of the pie. Garnish with the saved handful of berries as shown in the picture.

Enjoy!!


Wheat Germ Saucer Cookies

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The favorite! Wheat Germ Saucer Cookies.

Food makes so many memories. The smells, the tastes, flooding back happy moments, complete conversations and pure joy! These Wheat Germ Saucer Cookies are a big one for me. I remember being in 7th grade when Mom first made these.

Take a look at my mom’s handwritten recipe. I could barely read it today!

My mother baked a lot. She also made sure I knew how to bake. Pies were my Dad’s favorites and of course as a kid, I LOVED cookies. 

Mom made chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin (another of Dad’s favorites), and peanut butter regularly. Her Christmas Cookies were famous throughout the neighborhood and to die for, especially the Pecan Crisps, along with the Hello Dolly Squares (crazy name!), Cut-outs and Date Bars. But when she made these Wheat Germ Saucer Cookies for the very first time, I was over the moon! Because they were BIG, super crunchy and so different with coconut, oatmeal, wheat germ and chocolate chips! Then she told me that wheat germ was very healthy – especially good for pretty skin.

Well, this was MY COOKIE!! 

But then of course, she told me I couldn’t eat two, because I would get fat and the cookies were big. (Granted, two is a lot — but they’re so good!!)

Well, Mom is not around anymore…

And lately, I’ve made two batches of these (why I waited so long I’ll never know) to the pure delight of everyone who tastes them! Even people who like soft chewy cookies can get into these, because of the coconut. So you get that chewy aspect combined with the crunchy-ness with the wheat germ and oatmeal – without any nuts – for those folks that are allergic.

Because they are large – they also do not take up too much time to make.

My chocolate chip cookie memories

Large cookies have another special memory for me. My dad’s older, forever single brother Eugene would come for dinner nearly every Sunday night. He didn’t talk much but this was a chance for him to be around family and to get one of my mother’s good healthy meals inside of him. One of his favorite, most memorable sayings was, when Mom would ask him if he wanted seconds on anything, Uncle Euge would say, “No thank you, I’ll do well to clean my plate.” and then chuckle. We always laughed at that and he had a very jolly laugh. 

Uncle Eugene’s gifts

When he came, he always brought all of us kids (remember there were 6 of us), a box of one dozen Hersey’s chocolate bars and a big white bakery box of one dozen huge chocolate chip cookies from some bakery in downtown St. Louis near where he lived. I have been searching for that cookie for years. I still have not found it.

When I moved to NYC in the late 70’s, I got all excited as all the delis carried plastic wrapped huge chocolate chip cookies. I tried most of them, but not one matched up.

The Uncle Eugene cookies were large, just like these Wheat Germ Saucer Cookies, crunchy and pure chocolate chips. No nuts, just a great dough and chocolate. It occurs to me right now, that perhaps they used some Crisco or lard in them for that unmistakable tender crunch. That’s not really healthy so I’m not sure I’m gonna go there now, but maybe I should experiment, just a little.

The utmost importance of creaming your butter and sugar extremely well…

At any rate, do try these. My trick with any cookie is to cream the butter and sugar for a super long, long time – so that the mixture is not at all grainy with the sugar, but light colored and fluffy. Go do something else for a little bit of time while your mixer does the work. Then add your room temperature eggs, one at a time, beating very well after each one. Finally, add the dry ingredients, and most importantly, your LOVE!

I’m sure these will be an awesome hit. My friends who have eaten them just recently have begged for this recipe so here it is. 

Finished dough in the mixer bowl – I didn’t have quite enough dark chocolate chunks so I added some white chocolate chips to get the full chocolate experience.

WHEAT GERM SAUCER COOKIES – makes 20 large cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups wheat germ
1½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 rounded tsp. Kosher salt
½ cup coconut
½ cup quick-cooking oatmeal (uncooked)
1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter with sugars until very light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Mix wheat germ together with all remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and stir (lowest speed on your mixer) into butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Place dough by ¼ cupfuls onto a silt pad lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 – 17 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 2 – 3 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in a loosely covered container.

Wheat Germ Saucer Cookies cooling on a rack.
You will LOVE these. Enjoy!!!


Sicilian Orange Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze

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I had a little trouble getting this cake out of the pan…

This Italian cake is not too sweet but super moist so you can make this a day ahead and eat it for several days without losing anything. Because of this, I thought this Sicilian Orange Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze is a great cake to have around during the holidays. It is terrific for dessert as well as for breakfast with a cup a coffee. (a true Italian-style breakfast) You probably already have all the ingredients on hand so give this a go! Santa will most likely enjoy it too.

Always good to share…

I brought this cake to a dinner at my good friends’ Margaret and Wayne’s house last week. They are in my “pod” so all is good and safe. We each had two pieces that night and then I left them with a very large piece. Margaret texted me that she was having a 1″ piece every day. I think she’s had her last piece today and enjoyed it so much.

This cake recipe was originally in Food and Wine magazine, but of course I changed it and added the dark chocolate glaze. I LOVE orange and chocolate!

Make it with LOVE. And have a very Happy and Merry Christmas!

SICILIAN ORANGE CAKE with DARK CHOCOLATE GLAZE – serves 10

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 1/4 cups fresh orange juice (from 3 oranges)
1 1/2 Tbs. baking powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup Canola oil
3 large or 4 small eggs
Butter for greasing the pan
4 oz. 70% dark Ghirardelli Chocolate
½ tsp. unsalted butter
½ tsp. Canola oil


Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, orange zest, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs with an electric mixer on high speed until almost white, about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Add orange juice; beat on low speed until combined, about 20 seconds. With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Beat until just combined, about 1 minute (do not overmix).

Transfer batter to a greased (with butter or Crisco) and floured 9-inch tube or Bundt pan. Bake in a preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert cake onto a wire rack; let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Turn cake right side up on a plate. Melt the chocolate with the butter and oil in a microwave, 1 minute at a time on 50% power, stirring after each heating, to further melt the chocolate. This should take 2 – 3 minutes. Do not overheat as that will burn the chocolate.

Drizzle the glaze all over the top and let it drip down the sides. Enjoy!!

Soooo good for breakfast!

Banana Bread

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Covid Banana Bread cut.
Covid Banana Bread!

Zooming…

I was Zooming with my friend Sherry the other day and told her about this new Banana Bread recipe that I had just concocted and shared through a mailbox delivery (a real, snail mail type delivery box in the country – on a post near the roadside) to some local friends and her response was, “Oh! How very Covid of you!” So there you have it! A whole new vocabulary has erupted from this pandemic. Covid has become a verb, adverb and adjective besides always being a noun. Sherry said, “Oh yes, all of them.” And Banana Bread could almost be called Covid Bread because EVERYONE is making it.

It must be that everyone has bought all of those bananas for fear that they might not be there the next time they shop and they can’t possibly eat them all so what’s next? Covid Banana Bread!

And did you notice, “Zooming” is also a new verb.

Then there is my personal favorite, “Quarantini,” where you make a martini and drink it alone, at home. I wonder how many alcoholics will come out of this? I could literally have a cocktail catch-up with friends every single night, which has been using up a lot of my time, fun times albeit, but now I have curbed the commitments. Too much!

Differences in my recipe…

Back to Banana Bread. In this recipe, I upped the eggs (for extra moistness) and went light on the sugar, as I always do, added nuts, cinnamon and nutmeg, which are unusual from what I can see out there.  

I love Banana Bread toasted and then smeared with butter, particularly the end pieces, as the crust holds all the butter goodness in and none can drip out through the bread and onto your plate. Or, put on even a little cream cheese for extra pure decadence. I know, these are silly details but really worth it. For me, it brings back childhood memories as I used to fight over the end pieces with my brothers. And my mother loved putting on some butter AND cream cheese, as she’d put a finger to her lips, “Shhhhussh, don’t tell anyone…”

But really, this recipe is so good and moist, you don’t need a thing!

It freezes well and keeps in the refrigerator nicely.

Make with LOVE and create some of your own special memories.

Covid Banana Bread overhead shot.

BANANA BREAD – 1 loaf

½ cup butter, softened
1 scant cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 – 4 overly ripe bananas, finely mashed with a fork
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1½ tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
¾ cup pecan halves, finely chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º F degrees.

Using the paper from the butter, butter and flour a loaf pan, making sure to get into all the corners. Use extra butter if needed.

Cream together butter and sugar.

Add eggs and mashed bananas. Combine well.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add gradually to creamed mixture by large spoonfuls. Add vanilla.

Mix just until combined. Stir in the finely chopped nuts. Do not overmix.

 Pour into buttered and floured loaf pan.

 Bake at 350º F / 180º for 45 – 55 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Keeps well, refrigerated. Also freezes well. Enjoy toasted and spread with LOVE, and butter or cream cheese.

Always add LOVE

Always make and serve with LOVE. Because your food will taste better, without exception! Trust me. Spread LOVE around, not Covid-19. 🙂

Rhubarb Crisp for an Easy Memorial Day Dessert

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It’s the season!

I adore rhubarb and right now it is in season! This rhubarb crisp recipe is perfect for an easy Memorial Day Dessert, so you can still relax. Because the recipe has all the specific ingredients I was craving, namely oats and pecans, along with the simplicity in preparation, I vote this as a winner anytime fresh rhubarb is available.

Heck, I think you could even use frozen rhubarb as rhubarb does freeze well. And typically, “crisp” recipes are certainly easier than a pie or a biscuit topping and this one is even super easy because you melt the butter and combine everything with your hands.

I made this as a surprise dessert to take over to Margaret and Wayne’s house for our first pandemic dinner out. We had all been very careful, only going out to buy food while fully gloved and masked. We hadn’t seen anyone else in the last 2 weeks. And we were all feeling great and healthy.

I was asked to bring an appetizer and I had some good store-bought hummus, chopped up some veggies and completed that request.

But now I had this gorgeous, freshly picked rhubarb from my farmer friend, Ethel, and I felt I must put this to work as I thought I remembered that Margaret loved rhubarb and sure enough I was right!

I was running late however with the crisp still in the oven. I texted over the facts, not telling them why I was late, and Wayne said OK. I then asked if they had vanilla ice cream.

Wayne texted back that they already had a dessert.

Surprise!!

I sighed, but ignored him and brought my own vanilla ice cream. (That’s what friends are for, right?)

When I arrived with the still very, very warm crisp, it was greeted with wide smiles and Margaret said, “Don’t you ever listen to my husband if he says we have dessert and you have this in the oven!”

I was glad I didn’t.

You will be glad too when you make this Rhubarb Crisp yourself this weekend! Serve with ice cream and LOVE and sit back and enjoy the compliments!

My apologies – in my rush to get Margaret and Wayne’s, I neglected to take a picture of the finished crisp. Next time!!

RHUBARB CRISP – serves 6

For the filling:

4 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb (about 6 stalks) – ½” pieces
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

For the crisp topping:

6 Tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats 
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. French Grey salt or Kosher salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
Grated fresh nutmeg

For serving:

Use the best quality of vanilla ice cream.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a 10” cast-iron skillet or in a square baking dish, toss rhubarb with filling ingredients until evenly incorporated. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, pecans, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Grate the fresh nutmeg evenly all over. Use your hands to incorporate melted butter into flour mixture until mixture has pea-sized clumps. 

Scatter topping over rhubarb mixture and bake until rhubarb is bubbling and topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

Rhubarb Crisp ready to go into the oven!

Easy peasy!

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