Country Apple Galette

I took a French cooking class at Sur-la-Table this winter with both of my sister-in-laws. Not only was it a fun evening together, but it was also a wonderful way to learn how to make some things that were out of our cooking realms, and then enjoy the fruits of our labor by sitting down to a delicious French meal! You should really consider taking a class at your local Sur-la-Table; the prices are incredibly reasonable, they prep and clean everything (worth the price of admission in itself), the classes are small and intimate and completely hands-on, the instructors are knowledgeable and engaging, you can bring your own wine to make the evening more lively, the menus are well thought out, and the finished product is a meal that might cost upwards of $100 in a restaurant. We all left the class feeling satisfied belly-wise and kitchen skills-wise.

Anyways, one of the items we made that night was a Pear Galette. A galette is basically a free form pie or tart which you can fill with anything you can imagine, savory or sweet. It is a fairly simple dessert, with very few ingredients and very little time involved. Well, especially little time if you purchase your pastry dough as I did! It is a fresh and delicate dessert that really lets the ingredients sing. I used apples because it is winter, and because I like apples! I found this Jacques Pepin recipe on Food and Wine. At some point I will try the dough recipe and I will report on how it turns out later.

The apple galette turned out beautiful and so yummy! We actually took this over to a friend's house for dessert. It traveled easily and reheated perfectly to be served after dinner warm and bubbly out of the oven. I think you really only need two or three apples tops. I did not do the bottom layer of chopped apples (I was running very short on time!), I just did the decoratively arranged sliced apples, and that turned out to be plenty of apple in the dessert. I actually think you could cut the sugar down to 1 tablespoon rather than two. Otherwise I think the recipe is pretty much perfect.

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Ingredients:
1 refrigerated pie dough
4 Golden Delicious apples (I think you could actually use just two or three tops)
2 tablespoons of sugar (I think you could cut this down to 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of butter, cut into small pieces

Steps:
1. Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Peel, halve and then quarter the apples. Once each apple is in 4 pieces, you can easily cut out the core from each piece.

Peeled. 

Halved.

Quartered.

Cored.

Still messy!

All cleaned up with no skin!

3. Thinly slice the apple quarters into crescent shaped slices. Set the apples aside.

Sliced.

Sliced.

4. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and the cinnamon.

5. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with non-stick spray and stretch the pastry dough into a circle on the tray.

6. Decoratively arrange the apple slices on the dough, leaving about an inch at the edge of the dough uncovered.

7. Drizzle the honey evenly over all of the apples.

8. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture evenly over the apples.

9. Dot the small pieces of butter evenly onto the apples.

10. Gently pull the 1 inch of uncovered dough up over the apples to create a one inch border.

11. Bake the galette in the 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. You want the pastry to be golden brown and the apples to be tender.

12. Serve warm or at room temperature. Ice Cream might be a fun addition!    

Sleepy puppies after a big walk and bath!

Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I love oatmeal. Most days, I grab a packet of instant oatmeal out of the pantry, place it in my purse, and add hot water when I get to work and eat at my desk. On weekends, when I have more time, I like to make steel cut oats with bananas, pecans, and brown sugar. This is actually my favorite way to prepare and eat oatmeal, however the 45 minutes it requires to cook make it a weekend treat only.

When I stumbled upon the concept of cooking steel cut oats in the crockpot overnight, I decided I had to give it a try. So last night before bed I put everything in the crockpot, turned it on, and went to bed. When Robert and I sat down to eat the results this morning, it was the first weekday breakfast we have had together since our first year of marriage. It was really nice.

The results were so so. I really like my oats firm, which is why steel cut oats are my favorite. The oatmeal from the crockpot was quite soft and not as flavorful as I would have guessed given all the ingredients. I definitely want to play around with this recipe again to see if I can't improve the texture and flavor with some modification. Either way, the benefit of being able to wake up to a hot breakfast ready to eat and shared breakfast with my husband makes it worth making again.

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Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal


Ingredients
1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups water, plus more for water bath in crockpot
1/2 cup half & half
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 apple cored, peeled, and chopped

Instructions
Gather all your ingredients, your crockpot, and a bowl that will fit inside the crockpot bowl and still allow the lid to seal.

Fill the crockpot bowl about half way with water.

Add the oats, 4 cups water, half and half, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar in the smaller bowl. Stir to combine.

Stir in the pecans and apple.

Gently place the bowl into the larger crockpot bowl with water making sure the water in the crockpot is at least as high as the oat mixture.

 Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

In the morning, remove the inner bowl from the crockpot and stir the contents.

Serve in bowls with fruit or other toppings.

Source: Mommy's Kitchen