Saturday, July 23, 2016

Peach Galette with Almond Buttermilk Crust

Peach Galette with Almond Buttermilk Crust | Nothing in the House

This May, my family all came home to Indiana to celebrate my grandmother's 85th birthday. We were sitting around the dining room table, swapping stories when my uncle Brett told us why he can no longer eat peaches:

It was summer, in rural northern Indiana, and my uncle, who was in high school, was broke. He and his friend went looking for odd jobs, and Don Eberly, the local apple orchardist and retired school bus driver (who I've written about previously here), said that he'd pay Brett and his friend to drive up to an orchard in Michigan, pick up a haul of peaches, and bring them back. Desperate for cash, they agreed, spending the last of their money on gas for the trip, north of Grand Rapids. On the way home, the back of their truck filled with peach crates, they were starving, but had no money left for food. So they hauled a crate into the cab, set it between them, and ate peaches all the way home, throwing pit after pit out of the open windows. When they got back, they got their money, but were completely sick on peaches, and to this day Brett is nauseated by the taste and smell of them.

I'm glad I've never had such an experience. To me, there's nothing like a fresh peach in the summer time. It's almost unbelievable that something so sweet and juicy is even real. I actually think I favor fresh peaches over baked, but this galette recipe allows the slices to still maintain their integrity, avoiding the goopy, gelatinous mess that you find in some peach pies when the steam captured by a double crust breaks down the fruit. You can use the standard Nothing in the House pie crust recipe for this-- it'll be flakier-- but this is more of a biscuit crust, with the added texture of the almond meal pairing well with the sweet stone fruit.

Peach Galette with Almond Buttermilk Crust | Nothing in the House

Peach Galette with Almond Buttermilk Crust

Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk

For the filling:
7-8 peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used bourbon barrel-aged)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Turbinado sugar (for dusting)
1 large beaten egg + 1 Tablespoon whole milk or cream (for egg wash)

Directions
1. For the crust In a large bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter cubes using a pastry cutter or knife and fork until texture resembles cornmeal and peas. Stir in the buttermilk with a wooden spoon. Mix until dough comes together, but is not overly mixed (it should be a little shaggy). Form into a ball and flatten into a disc. Wrap the disc tightly with plastic wrap, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. 

2. In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients until homogenous. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

3. Roll out crust in a large circle or oval on a piece of parchment and transfer crust with parchment to a large baking sheet. Ladle peach filling onto rolled crust, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold up the pastry over the edges of the filling, leaving most of the peaches uncovered. 

4. Place galette in freezer for 20-30 minutes while the oven preheats. Once chilled, remove galette from fridge and brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with the remaining 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Bake tart in the middle rack of the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and pastry is golden brown. Let the tart cool completely. Serve just warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

Peach Galette with Almond Buttermilk Crust | Nothing in the House

Related recipes:
Apricot Galette with Cornmeal Crust
"Old Fashioned" Cherry Galette
Peach-Pecan Pie
Peach Pie with a Sweet Basil Glaze
Peach-Sorghum Pandowdy with Cornmeal Biscuits
Surry County Peach Sonker with Dip
White Nectarine Frangipane Tart with Homemade Puff Pastry

Saturday, July 02, 2016

Cherry Buttermilk Gelato with Honey Cornmeal Cones

Cherry Buttermilk Gelato with Honey Cornmeal Cones | Nothing in the House

Sometime last year I picked up a Cuisinart ice cream maker at a thrift store, thus launching my foray into frozen dessert experimentation. My favorite result to date is the Pickled Strawberry Ice Cream I made for "piescream sandwiches" last June, but the main hold-up preventing me from using the ice cream maker with more frequency is the time it takes to prepare a full-on custard ice cream-- often when I get the urge for a frozen treat, I want it then and now. So I've been seeking quicker recipes I can whip up within an hour. This "gelato" recipe via Food52 is a quick, no-cook affair, and can be easily adapted to whatever ingredients you have on hand. Originally made with strawberries, buttermilk, and sour cream, I used the sweet cherries, buttermilk, and Greek yogurt I already had in the fridge.

My pizzelle maker is another one of those kitchen trinkets I like to put to use in creative ways. Back in January, my friends and I used it to make fortune cookies to pair with my friend Mike's homemade carrot/lemongrass and green tea/kombucha ice creams made for our Chinese New Year feast. This time, I adapted a Bees Knees recipe to make Honey Cornmeal Mini Cones, spiked with a dash of bourbon. If you don't want to shape them into cones (folding them right out of the oven requires a bit of a burned finger commitment), you can keep them in a round cookie shape and use them as a garnish in the ice cream dish.

Cherry Buttermilk Gelato | Nothing in the House

Cherry Buttermilk Gelato
Adapted from Food52

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients
4 cups sweet cherries, pitted
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (depending on your sweetness preference)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk
1/3 cup Greek yogurt (original recipe calls for sour cream, which makes it fattier and richer)

Directions
1. Purée the pitted cherries and sugar in a food processor or blender until smooth.

2. Add the salt, buttermilk, and yogurt and blend until combined.

3. Pour the blend into an ice cream maker and process according to the ice cream maker's instructions. Once churned, chill in the freezer until ready to eat. Serve with honey cornmeal ice cream cones (see recipe below).

Honey Cornmeal Cones | Nothing in the House

Honey Cornmeal Ice Cream Cones
Adapted from Bees Knees Recipes

Makes about 10 mini cones or cookies

Ingredients
1 large egg
1 egg white
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons honey
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bourbon
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornmeal (Bloody Butcher cornmeal recommended!)

Directions
1. Heat pizzelle or waffle cone maker.

2. In a saucepan, melt the honey with the 2 Tablespoons of butter and set aside.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine egg, egg white, sugar, and bourbon. Stir in the salt and half of the flour, then mix in the melted honey butter. Beat in the rest of the flour and the cornmeal until smooth.

4. Scoop 1 1/2 Tablespoons batter into each side of the pizzelle maker and bake for about 1 minute. Remove cookie and immediately shape around your fingers or a spoon handle. You may want to wear gloves as the pizzelles will be quite hot.

Cherry Buttermilk Gelato with Honey Cornmeal Cones | Nothing in the House

Related recipes:

Pickled Strawberry Piescream Sandwiches
Sour Cherry Pie
Sweet Cherry Pie with Cornmeal Streusel

Cranberry Chess Pie

Fig Pistachio Tarte Tatin

Peppermint Pattie Tart

Whiskey & Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

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