Greetings to the two faithful readers I still have left! (Hi Mom!) I have taken an unintended hiatus from blogging, but I am back baby! I’ve still been cooking, so have a back log of recipes to post and I am starting with this gem. I tore it out a (typically) underwhelming issue of Bon Appetit because, well, just look at the ingredients. Rhubarb and creme fraiche? Check. And in galette form? Sign me up!
This easily the best thing I’ve done with rhubarb all summer. It is a very simple recipe – as the Resident Frechman said, “this doesn’t have enough ingredients for you to make it. Where is the heavy cream?” But the result is very delicious and really allows the rhubarb to shine. I think it was totally worth leaving the oven on for an hour when it was 90 degrees this weekend in a barely air conditioned house, which for a summer recipe is the highest possible praise.
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I feel that it is my mission in life to make everyone eat this crème fraîche. It is so much better than your average whipped cream. Honestly, I don’t even want to eat whipped cream after this. You have to try it. If you don’t have a full vanilla bean, sweetened crème fraîche still tastes amazing, but the vanilla really elevates it to another level.
My usual end tips: as I’ve said before, galettes are extremely forgiving. Don’t worry about rolling out the dough perfectly. It is supposed to look rustic (and therefore charming). My dough was somewhat shaped like France. Remember when you are adding the water to the dough that you may need more or less water – it depends on the humidity of your kitchen. The recipe calls for the rhubarb to be sliced into match stick strips, which I know sounds unforgivably picky. Don’t worry about getting the pieces super thin, these can be thick matchsticks. The important part is to keep them all the (relatively) same size, so they cook evenly. Finally, Bon Appetit directs you to arrange the rhubarb in concentric circles. How that is possible with strips, I am not really sure. So make up your own pattern! And if you get neat circles, let me know how you did it!
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Rhubarb Galette with Vanilla Bean Crème Fraîche
Adapted from Bon Appetit – April 2010
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2-4 tablespoons ice water
Filling
1 pound trimmed rhubarb
1/4 cup plus 5 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend
1 8-ounce container crème fraîche
1 vanilla bean
First, make the crust:
Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add butter and use a pastry blender or your fingers to blend until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; stir until dough clumps together, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 2 hours. Let dough soften 10 minutes at room temperature before rolling out.
Next, the filling:
Slice rhubarb into into 2-inch-long 1/4-inch-thick matchstick-size strips. Combine with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in medium bowl. Let stand at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour, stirring at the halfway mark.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place large sheet of parchment on work surface; sprinkle parchment with flour. Roll out dough on parchment to 12-inch round. Transfer dough on parchment to large baking sheet, trimming edges of parchment to fit sheet.
Starting in center of dough round, arrange rhubarb strips in a pretty design, leaving 1-inch plain border at edge. Gently fold dough border up over outer edge of rhubarb topping, folding and crimping dough to create decorative edge. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over rhubarb. Dot rhubarb with butter. Brush dough edges with beaten egg. Sprinkle edges with 1 tablespoon sugar.
Bake galette until rhubarb is tender and juices are bubbling, about 1 hour. Cool galette at least 30 minutes.
Finally, make the crème fraîche
Mix crème fraîche, 2 tablespoons sugar and the seeds of one vanilla bean in small bowl. Chill until ready to serve.
Cut galette into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature with sweetened crème fraîche.
Hmm, this was super tasty, RF thinks it should make a second apparition!