Rhubarb season is brief and, therefore, especially sweet. This galette combines two of my dessert favorites – rhubarb and frangipane. Frangipane is an almond-flavored cream, although I have made this galette using hazelnuts instead. Either will work. [If you are looking for a vegan frangipane recipe refer to my recipe for Apple Frangipane Tart.]
Don’t be scared off by the length of ingredients or directions. This galette is quite simple to make if just follow the steps. The dough can be made ahead and it makes enough for two galettes, so you can freeze one half for a last minute dessert. I was admittedly somewhat skeptical about the method for making the pastry but I followed it to the letter and it worked absolutely perfectly and was flaky and buttery.
I love making galettes because they are free-form and flexible. And if you REALLY don’t wish to make frangipane, you could simply roll into a disk a 7-ounce tube of almond paste for a similar taste but without the inherent creaminess of the frangipane. I also decided to throw in a 1/2 pint of raspberries – well, because I could. Make this soon while rhubarb is in season!
NOTE: I did go a bit overboard on my fruit, using closer to a pound of rhubarb in addition to the raspberries. While delicious, the galette might have been a little prettier with slightly less fruit, so that the dough could have been folded over more.
Rhubarb Frangipane Galette from Alexandra’s Kitchen
Yield: 1 approximately 9-inch galette
Ingredients
for the rhubarb:
3/4 lb rhubarb stalks, cut into 2-inch lengths
1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
zest from one orange
1/2 pint washed and dried raspberries (Optional)
for the pastry:
2½ (320g) cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon kosher or table salt
2 sticks (16 tablespoons | 8 oz | 227 g) unsalted butter
½ cup + 2 tablespoons ice water
for the frangipane:
1/2 cup almond or hazelnut flour or finely ground almonds or hazelnuts
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
1 egg (small if possible)
2 teaspoons vanilla, rum, brandy or bourbon (I used Armagnac)
for assembly and serving:
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar for sprinkling, turbinado or Demerara sugar is nice
vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF and place a rack in the center of the oven.
- Prepare the rhubarb:Toss the rhubarb and raspberries, if used, with the sugar and orange zest in a large bowl and set aside.
- Make the pastry:In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the butter into small pieces, then add to the food processor. Pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas—should be about 10 quick pulses. Add the ice water and pulse again about 10 times until the mixture is crumbly but holds together when pinched. Lay two clean tea towels on a work surface. Dump half of the crumbly dough mixture into the center of each. (Don’t wash the food processor!) Grab the four corners of the towel together and twist to create a beggar’s purse, pressing the dough into a round. Use your hands to pack and flatten the round. Store one of the rounds in the freezer for a future use. Keep the other nearby handy or ideally refrigerate the dough for 1 hour to overnight.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12- or 13-inch round. Use as much flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking, and every few rolls, flip the dough over. Transfer dough to a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan. If you have space in the fridge, chill the pastry while you make the frangipane. [I just rolled my dough out onto the parchment so I had one less thing to clean up.]
- Make the frangipane: Combine almond flour, sugar, salt, butter, egg, and vanilla in the uncleaned bowl of the food processor. Purée until smooth. This can also be made up to a day ahead and refrigerated. You may need to allow it to warm to room temperature to make it spreadable.
- Spoon the frangipane into the center of the rolled out dough leaving a 1- to 2-inch border.
Heap the rhubarb and all of the juices into the center of the frangipane and spread out to cover. You can cherry pick the really red pieces and arrange them on top — the bright red stalks look so pretty in the end. 
Fold the exposed edge of dough towards the center to make a rustic enclosure. 
- Brush the edge of the dough with melted butter.
Drizzle the remainder over the exposed rhubarb. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden. [Do NOT panic if you see fruit and butter leaking from the galette. That is totally normal.] - Remove pan from the oven and let rest on cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes or until Silpat or paper is cool enough to handle. Grab the edges of the paper or Silpat and slide to a cooling rack to cool further or to a cutting board to serve. Cut into wedges. Serve on its own or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
The temperatures have peaked in the 90’s and even with air conditioning, I want EASY. I came across these nuts in an otherwise underwhelming recipe that used way too much soy sauce and was more effort than the result warranted. (I may make it again with some major changes, which I will post at a later date.) The nuts were to have been the garnish, but for me, they became the main attraction. And they are so ridiculously easy to make! Fair warning, though, they are addictive. Munch them with drinks – or anytime – and use them as a garnish over a simple stir-fry to take it to the next level. All you need are two ingredients, plus a sheet pan and an oven. The original recipe only made a half cup of nuts, but I have increased it to 2 cups because, let’s face it, a half cup will be gone before they are barely out of the oven. These nuts have just the right amount of spice – not so much that you will blow off the top of your head but just enough to wake up your taste buds.
NOTHING says summer quite like ripe, juicy, red slices of watermelon. I’ve eaten watermelon my entire life, but I first ate it with feta or Bulgarian cheese on a visit to the YMCA in Jerusalem about 8 years ago. It was a revelation. The salty tang of the cheese was the perfect foil for the sweet, juicy melon. It wasn’t on any menu – you just had to know to ask for it. Ever since that fateful meal, I have been combining the two ingredients. It really doesn’t take anything more than a drizzle of a good olive oil, but tonight I decided to add some fresh chopped mint and chives from my terrace garden along with a good squeeze of fresh lime juice and a drizzle of a fruity EVOO. Add the oil and lime juice just before serving for simply the most refreshing summer salad ever! While I have included measurements, I honestly just eye-ball everything. So don’t get too bogged down and use the measurements as a guideline only.
