I’ll let you in on a little secret, even I can’t be bothered with all of the faff involved in baking sometimes. You know those recipes which look & taste beautiful but have loads of steps & processes involved, well, they’re great when you’ve got the time & patience for them but let’s face it, very few of us have both of those in abundance most days. So for day’s like these, when I want to whip something up that both looks & tastes just as delicious as those recipes, if it’s just for myself then I’ll knock up a simple batch of Welsh cakes or scones but if it’s for sharing then I’ll usually turn to pastry.
If you can make a great shortcrust pastry, then you can pretty much throw anything together but the easiest thing of all would be a fruit filled galette. It’s basically a pie but less fancy, a little rough around the edges if you will. They’re incredibly easy to make & very forgiving too. This strawberry & lime galette is easy as pie (I had to!). A flaky, buttery crust, filled with fresh, sweet strawberries & zesty lime is a real summery treat. I guarantee, whoever you share this with will be impressed without knowing just how easy it was to make. Serve it whilst it’s still a little warm if you can, with some cold, thick yogurt or ice cream.
STRAWBERRY & LIME GALETTE
(makes one galette)
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 200g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 40g icing sugar
- 130g butter, cubed
- 1 egg yolk
- 3-4 tbsp water
For the filling:
- 2 tbsp ground almonds
- 400g strabweeries
- 30g granulated sugar
- Juice & zest of 1 lime
For the decoration:
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tbsp demerara sugar
- 3-4 tbsp flaked almonds
Method:
For the pastry:
- To make the pastry begin by combining sifting together the flour, salt & icing sugar into a large bowl
- Add in the cubed butter to the bowl & using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
- Add the egg yolk to the bowl & use a spoon to stir through
- Next add in 1 tbsp of water & stir through, continue to add water sparingly, only adding 1 tbsp at a time, just enough until the mixture starts to clump together
- Use your hands to finish bringing the mixture together to form a dough
- Flatten the dough into a shallow disc shape, cover in a beeswax wrap or some cling film & chill in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes (you could even do this the day before)
For the filling:
- To make the filling, remove any stalks & leaves from the strawberries before slicing
- Add the strawberries, sugar, zest & juice to a bowl & simply stir to combine everything
For the assemble:
- Remove the pastry from the fridge a roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin, into a rough circle shape (approximately 30cm)
- Next, sprinkle the ground almonds in a large circle in the centre of the pastry, leaving roughly a 2 inch gap between the edge of the pastry
- Add the strawberry filling on top of the almonds, again keeping the same gap between the filling & the edge of the pastry
- Now, carefully fold the edges of the pastry back over the filling to encase it, overlapping it as you work around the galette
- Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg before sprinkling over the demerara sugar & flaked almonds
- Bake the galette at 180C for 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown
- Leave to cool a little before slicing & serving with a little yogurt or ice cream
