Fresh Pineapple Galette & Strawberry-Mango Crostata

Yay! It's a double your pleasure posting! (also a "feeling guilty for not posting in a while so trying to make up for it" posting!). Let’s begin with the Fresh Pineapple Galette, shall we? :-)

I had a beautiful pineapple sitting on our kitchen table for a few days, along with a fiancé who consistently kept asking "What are you gonna do with that pineapple?” That pineapple finally met its glorious destiny in the form of this lovely rustic tart. The aroma of pineapple roasting in the oven, slowly caramelizing with the sugar and the all butter crust baking is enough to bring you to your knees. But just wait till you taste it. Alongside a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt, I guarantee you'll quickly fall into a pineapple love coma!

Fresh Pineapple Galette

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups organic unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp organic sugar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed (european style preferably)
• 3-4 Tbsp ice water

Topping:

• 1 ripe hawaiian gold pineapple - peeled, cored, sliced into rings
• 4 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

To serve:

• vanilla frozen yogurt (or ice cream)
• fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

In a food processor, mix flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter into the flour and pulse until the pieces are smaller than peas, Add ice water and pulse until dough comes together. Transfer dough to work surface lined with parchment, flatten into disk and wrap in paper. Allow to rest in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

After resting, on a work surface flour the dough and roll out dough to 12 in. in diameter and 1/4 in. thick. Place dough (with the parchment still underneath) on a round baking sheet. Overlap the rings of pineapple to cover the middle of the dough leaving a border of 1-2 inches. Fold the edges of the dough over the edges of the pineapple leaving the center open, pleat the dough however you like. Dust the pineapple with the brown sugar. Put pats of butter over sugar then place in refrigerator to firm the dough, 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees then place in lower third oven rack. Bake about 30 minutes, or until the crust becomes golden in color and the pineapple is soft when pierced with a fork. Cool slightly and serve warm.

and now, on to the Strawberry-Mango Crostata!



This was a last minute Easter dessert I whipped up, inspired by having no eggs and strawberries and mangos on hand. I thought strawberry and mango smoothies are delicious, so why not together in a tart? I looked online and saw that no one has combined these 2 fruits this way before so I was excited to try it out. What resulted was a colorful and mouthwatering dessert that we had on it's own, although I'm sure another scoop of that frozen vanilla yogurt would be ok with this too :-)

Strawberry-Mango Crostata

For the pastry:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated or superfine sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced
• Grated rind of one lemon
• 2 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

• 1 ½ pounds strawberries, rinsed, hulled and sliced
• 2 mangos, peeled and cut into chunks
• ¼ cup sugar (a little more or less, depending on sweetness of berries)
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass. Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and form into a disk. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Mix all filling ingredients together and Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Flour a rolling pin and roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Mound fruit mixture in center of dough, leaving a 1½- inch border. Fold pastry over fruit, pleating it to make a rough edge. Don’t worry about cracks; some juice will leak out during baking. Optional: brush crust with a beaten egg mixed with a bit of water.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cutting board. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Posted by Luisa