Walnut Sage Blueberry Galette
Well, folks, it’s just about time to say goodbye to summer, and to be frank about it, I am not sorry. It is my least favorite of all the seasons and often feels like it’s there just to be gotten through. But one thing I do always lament about the passing of this time of year is having to say goodbye to berries, especially blueberries. In fact, I was so into blueberries this year that I let cherries slip right past me.
I’ve also been pretty fixated on sage these past few months, mostly I think because it’s an herb I’ve always overlooked in the past, and that I think many people overlook in general in terms of desserts. This recipe brings both of these sweet little plants together, along with crushed walnuts, all served up on the laziest of all pastries, the galette.
Galettes, like cobbler, are perfect for when you want a pie, without all the hassle. And that makes them especially great for summer, when all the prime pie ingredients — like blueberries — are at their peak, but it’s too hot to spend more than an hour or so in the kitchen. They’re also less sweet, which means they’re great not only for dessert, but for breakfast or brunch as well. And without all that sugar, the berries and sage really have an opportunity to shine.
Before I let summer slip completely by, I wanted to post this recipe so it’s not lost forever. It is one of my favorites, I think, and it’ll give me something to look forward to each time the temperature begins to rise and I start to despair about long, humid, sweaty days returning.
Walnut Sage Blueberry Galette
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 6-8 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
- 64 grams walnuts
- 10 grams (a handful) of fresh sage
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 250 grams fresh blueberries, washed and patted dry
Egg Wash
- 1 egg, with only about half the white
- 1 teaspoon milk
- pinch of salt
- sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- To make the pastry, put the flour, salt and cold butter into a food processor and pulse until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.
- Add the cold water 1-2 tablespoons at a time and pulse just once or twice to integrate it. Stop adding water and pulsing when the mixture holds together when squeezed in your fist.
- Dump the mixture out onto a clean counter and form it together into a ball. Place the ball onto a sheet of plastic wrap and squash it down into a disk. Wrap the disc in the plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured counter into a rough circle about 1/4 of an inch thick. This doesn’t need to be perfect — that’s the beauty of a galette.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C) and line a large pizza pan, tart pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the dough circle to the pan.
- Put all of the ingredients for the filling except the blueberries into a food processor and process until the mixture is frothy and smooth.
- Pour the filling into the center of the dough and spread to the edges leaving about an inch to a half inch of space around the perimeter for folding over. Dump the blueberries on top of the filling and spread into an even layer.
- Fold over the edges of the dough to form a rough circle so you have something that looks a bit like a blueberry pizza. Whisk together the egg, salt and milk and brush it lightly over the folded over edge and sprinkle the sugar on top of the egg wash.
- Bake until the filling is set and the crust is golden brown, about 35-40 minutes.
