Sunday, May 25, 2008

Cherry galettes with black pepper-Kirschwasser glaze

Is there any better taste of summer than sweet bing cherries? You're giving me that look, aren't you. The "It's not summer yet, Heather, not in your neck of the woods. Fuck you smilin' about?" look.

Okay, sigh, I bought off-season produce from California. Sue me.

How could I resist? We won't have succulent chin-dripper stone fruits in Oregon for at least two months (especially if it never stops raining), and I want them now, dammit! Besides, I know what to do with a sassy little bag of cherries. Oh, do I ever.

I bake some galettes.

Galettes with black pepper-Kirschwasser glaze.

Some of you in the Forty and Fabulous set remember Kirsch as that cherry brandy that you add to fondue to let the cheese melt without clumpy into a greasy wad - this is the same stuff. Kirschwasser ("cherry water" in German) is just a double-distilled brandy made of mashed cherries, that is clear for lack of aging in wood. Portland's own Clear Creek Distillery make one that is really superb.

Since I wanted to maintain the sanguine color of cherries, I knew I'd need to add a bit of acid to the glaze, so I used the juice from my last blood orange (killing two red birds with one stone). I also added a splash of Bokbunjajoo for sweetness (and to add to the color). For the record, Bokbunjajoo tastes exactly like Loganberry Manischewitz and is to be avoided at all costs, even if you are a Korean celebrating Passover. It was a terrible err in judgment whilst wandering the booze aisle at Fubonn, and I hope that you will all learn from my mistake.

You might remember that I am afraid of pastry, and in fact can only brave a galette because they are expected to be fugly (rustic, I mean rustic). Yes, I ventured into some unsteady waters with that first experiment with savory-sweet dessert, and baby, I came out swimming. This time I went a little more aggressive with the pepper since I had the intrepid sweetness of cherry acting as the backbone.


Cherry galettes with black pepper-Kirschwasser glaze
This would probably be great with Rainier cherries or even plums. I'm totally making them with plums in a few months. Makes 4 galettes.

Prepare the pastry dough:
1.5 c AP flour
2 pinches salt
3 tbsp sugar
8 tbsp (one stick) cold butter
~like 5 or 6 tbsp ice water

Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a food processor (or with a pastry cutter) cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal with pea-sized nubs of butter. Sprinkle in the ice water and stir together (or pulse a couple times) until the dough starts to come together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and mush the dough together into a ball. Quarter the dough and wrap each in plastic wrap. Fridge for an hour or freezer for 20-30 minutes until the dough resembles modeling clay in texture.

Prepare the fruit:
2 oz. (an airline bottle) Kirschwasser
2 tbsp blood orange juice (or 1 tsp lemon juice)
2 tbsp Bokbunjajoo (or other cloying red booze - I guess sloe gin would work), or omit
2 tbsp sugar

Simmer down to a syrup (thick enough to be brushed without making pastry soggy).

~6 c bing cherries, pitted and halved (this was like 8 handfuls)
1/2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
1 tbsp sugar
pinch Chinese 5 spice

Toss fruit together with other ingredients.

Pull the dough out of the chiller and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out as thin as is praticable - you should get each ball to about 10" in diameter. Arrange the cherries fastidiously all concave-up as pictured (you think I'm just being fussy, but this will be crucial for pooling the juice and glaze). Brush the glaze over the fruit and give each galette another crack of pepper. Fold over the edges of the dough rustically (if you want perfection then you'd be making a tarte and not a galette). Brush the dough with some milk or cream and sprinkle a pinch of sugar over the top.

Bake for 10 minutes, then brush more glaze over the fruit. Another ten minutes, and brush some glaze. Then bake another 5-10 more minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Brush once more and cool on a rack. Serve warm with black walnut ice cream, thundershowers and Nude.

38 comments:

peter said...

You saucy, saucy galette, you.

'Tis the season for out-of-season fruits; the waiting is just too much.

Peter G | Souvlaki For The Soul said...

So you braved the pastry? Well done! Great combo of flavours yet again (sorry to be repetitive!)...good to see you broke a few cherries in the making of this dessert.

glamah16 said...

I am not yet Forty( Ok Nov) but fabulous! And I love Kirsh.For someone afraid of pastry those look so good. I love cherries and pasty! I can see this in apple and spriciot too.And the sue of pepper was just the kick!

Alicia Foodycat said...

I'm from a Swiss family, so cherries, Kirsch and "rustic" pastry sounds like coming home to my grandmother's kitchen to me! I'd probably grind some almonds and scatter them through, too. And the black walnut icecream is an idea for the walnut crop ripening on the tree right now.

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Yummmm. I have such a sweet tooth. I would eat those in 2 seconds flat and be looking around for more. Rustic is the way to go!

Peter M said...

Forty is the new thirty, which explains why you know about Kirsch.

It's nice to see your sweet side and the galette looks mighty fine.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

The cherry trees have only just finished blooming so it will still be a little while. Sttawberries first and then the helicopters will come in if it is a wet season to dry off the cherries so they don't split.No wonder cherries are at a premium price even here in the Okanagan..the wine and fruit belt. I love a good galette myself Heather...I am pastry phobic myself too and these are worry free:D

Jen said...

I love everything with cherries. And I am so with you on the forgiving nature of galettes. ;-)

Brittany said...

I saw those cherries in the store the other day and I wanted them SO bad. I hear NW Bings are going to take a while this year. Being that your gallette has me salivating, I may just need to give in to the California harvest.
F'ing California.
...hell yeah with the black pepper! NICE.

Leigh said...

yes, yes, yes, black pepper and sour/sweet fruit (cherries, strawbs) rules...well done, girl!

Heather said...

Jube - I know, right? I might pick up some more. I mean California is right next door, so it's not that evil.

Syd - Heh, I was actually a little disappointed that brownish-red juice didn't leak out all over the place, because I really expected a disaster.

Petah from Oz - Naughty! (`_'*)

Courtney - I love cherries too - I could eat pie cherries straight from the can.

Foodycat - Ooh, that'd been nice. I was thinking of adding pistachios, but didn't feel like the extra work.

Judy - These would be good for brekkie, too.

Peter the Greek - I guess I'm just precocious. (^o^)

Valli - They really send in helicopters to dry off the fruit? Maybe I need that for my tomatoes this year. :D

Jen - If it weren't for galettes, I'd probably just stick to cornbread.

Brittany - Go ahead. Do it. I certainly won't tell anyone. ;)

Leigh - Pepper's also good with pomes. Next time I'll try pink pepper.

Mike of Mike's Table said...

I have a sack of cherries in the fridge that are begging to be turned into a dessert. You've got my mouth watering--this looks really tasty. And lol, "rustic"--I make a point of saying that as well. Just like "very caramellized" ("burnt")

cookiecrumb said...

Cranky wants to know, "What airline? Lufthansa?"
:D

giz said...

I looked at cherries earlier today - like $6.99/lb - uhhh...think not - I have canned cherries - I guess this would be soggy city huh?

Emily said...

I like this. I made a dessert with cherries and black pepper, the other night too.
Did you used to make more desserts? Or did I imagine that?
These look really really really good.

Lunch Buckets said...

Seasonal shmesonal. At least the liquor was local. (assuming that you are from the Portland area, which I don't actually know cause I'm totally not stalking you)

Pilar - Lechuza said...

I've never made galetes but we have some pretty good cherries here in Spain. there is a place called "Valle del Jerte" that grows the best cherries in the country.
I'll try to make these this weekend.
Regards from Spain

Alicia Foodycat said...

Hey Giz - if you drained the canned cherries and tossed them through a little semolina you'd deal with the sogging issues! Then you could reduce down the canning liquid and use it as part of the glaze.

Lore said...

Can't wait for the cherry season to start :).
Rustic is definitely the way to go when you like comfy food.

Anonymous said...

Just a great way to bring a shit-load of amazing looking fruits together in one place.

Great job.

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Yes to all of that. Especially the ice cream and the nude bit.

Anonymous said...

oh that looks to die for!

michael, claudia and sierra said...

korean passover... i am so very there.

on another note, i just bought bipimbop gochujang. and i've no idea what to with it.

maybelles mom said...

yum. looks so good.

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

Cherries are $4.99/lb here and I'm not willing to pay for them right now. Even at the farmer's market people had them for $5 pint. Good Lord, I say! I think that a black pepper-kirsch glaze would be good on some BBQ, though.

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

Or a clafouti. Even with plums...yeah...

test it comm said...

That cherry galette looks so good! Now I am craving some cherry goodness. The pepper glaze sounds interesting

Anonymous said...

You certainly got "the color"! Those photos are amazing.

Laura Paterson said...

Our cherry season starts soon - can't wait - the best place to get them is to drive into the country and look for cherry carts!
Black pepper glaze = luscious. I do love the savoury sweet thing :)

Núria said...

I love cherries :D And now there's plenty of them here!

Tus galletas parecen muy sabrosas, baby ;-)

Heather said...

Mike - I'm using that. "Overcaramelized" - ha!

Cookie - Cranky is a real card, isn't he? :D

Giz - Whoa, that's spendy. I wouldn'tve bothered if they were that high here.

Emiline - I've been trying to expand into desserts, but they've never really been my forte.

Lunch Buckets - You're right! Local booze trumps seasonal (not ) produce.

Pilar - Ooh, I bet Spanish cherries are divine!

Foodycat - Correct! That would totally work.

Lore - Comfy and rustic are synonymous in my house!

GK - And it was really fast and easy!

Sketti - My, you're a cheap date aren't you. ;)

Diva - Thank you! :)

Claudia - Ooh, use some gochujang in Bolognese.

MBP - I thought you were gonna say you made the same thing last week! :D

Nikki - Ooh, that would be good on some ribs, wouldn't it?

Kevin - I love putting salt and pepper on fruit, I just think it works.

Marc - That's the help of the blood orange and Bokjunjajoo.

Kittie - That sounds so pastoral, to drive through the country, shopping from cherry carts. :)

Núria - ¡Mis galletas son saborosas, Suavecita! :D

Anonymous said...

NICE, nice nice...

and the last line of the post was a winner. thanks for the mp3

Anonymous said...

Now that i am naked, what do i do?

Brittany said...

The color alone is amazing. You are brave, I cannot bake myself out of a box.

Anonymous said...

there is nothing better than a fresh bing cherry. but a baked cherry? blech.

i just can't do it. i have a sour cherry tree in my yard that produces tons of fruit every year, and i end up giving it all away.

Tempered Woman said...

I'm so with you on the needing some fruit fix front. This rainy spring is killing me. I've had enough spinach and asparagus already durnit!
Love the galettes but REALLY love the idea of plum. YUM! Hurry and make and deliver pretty please...

Susan said...

Love the black pepper! And you are thisclose to giving your pastry fears the boot!

Carrie said...

Nice!