One of my favourite eateries in Edinburgh is Elliott’s, purveyor of simple, seasonal food, baking and homewares here in the Southside. Owner Jess also writes cookbooks and I had the joy of recipe testing for her latest book, ‘Lazy Baking’. I was very much hoping her recipe for one of Elliott’s signature bakes, frangipane galette, would be in there and was delighted to see there was one for an apple version! This week I had the first seasonal Scottish strawberries and probably the last of the pink rhubarb, and I thought they would go perfectly with Jess’ frangipane so I adapted the topping and was delighted with the results: rich, buttery pastry, sweet frangipane and freshness from the fruit. To make the rhubarb and strawberry galette, you will need:
For the pastry:
150g plain flour
85g cold butter
1 tsp caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Cold water (see instructions below)
Milk, for brushing
For the frangipane:
50g ground almonds
30g butter
70g caster sugar
one egg yolk
2 tbsp cream or full-fat milk
For the galette:
a handful of strawberries and a stick of forced rhubarb.
First, make the pastry – as you will need to chill it for an hour in the fridge (or 30 minutes in the freezer). Rub the flour, sugar, salt and butter together in a large bowl using the tips of your fingers (leave the butter quite chunky – it will make the pastry nice and flaky). Stir in a few splashes of water until the mixture forms a dough. Wrap the dough in a beeswax wrap and chill as above.
Meanwhile, make the frangipane. Cream the butter, sugar, almonds and egg yolk with the cream in a large bowl, beating together until fully combined. Once the pastry has chilled, preheat the oven to 180C Fan. Lay a sheet of baking paper on your work surface and sprinkle it lightly with flour. Roll the pastry out to 28 cm in a rough circle shape. Don’t worry about keeping it neat – this is a rustic galette. Spread the frangipane over the surface until about 2 cm from the edge. Cover randomly with the fruit, then fold the edges of the pastry inwards to make a crust.
Brush the pastry crust with milk and bake for 50 – 55 minutes until golden and crisp. Leave to cool slightly, then slice and serve. A lovely bake to celebrate Beltane this weekend – more on that in my newsletter!
Recipe adapted from Jess’ ‘Lazy Baking’, as above.