Recipe: Rustic Apple and Quandong Galette
I am so excited to share my rustic Apple and Quandong Galette. A galette is simply a French tart and back in my uni days, I used to make a cheats version by using frozen puff pastry instead of making my own. I've been working hard at perfecting this recipe and have been spending a lot of time coming up with a unique way to elevate this dessert, while paying homage to indigenous ingredients.
Originally I was going to use Kakadu Plum, but in the end I decided to use Quandong, which is like a peach. Apple and Quandong is a match made in heaven, and the galette turned out better than I could have ever imagined. It's delicious, flavourful and downright addictive. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on top would have taken the galette to the next level, but I wanted to enjoy this in it's own right. Next time, I am going to make a salted caramel to pour over the galette for extra opulence.
Before we move onto the recipe, it's important to note that the pastry for this galette is super easy. It doesn't require any lengthy kneading. If anything, it's the perfect pastry to quickly make in the morning and leave it in the fridge until you are ready to roll it out. Also, don't worry about where on earth you're going to find Quandong - I'll tell you. And if you don't want to include Quandong, you can leave it out or replace it with something else, like ginger or another fruit, such as rhubarb or peaches depending the season you're in when you make this. Ok, let's get baking!
Ingredients
200g plain flour
Pinch of sea salt
110g cold butter (salted or unsalted is ok, just make sure it's cold)
100ml cold water
1 lemon, freshly squeezed
3 green apples, sliced
60g brown sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp freeze dried Quandong, from Australian Super Foods
2 tbsp vanilla extract
Almond meal
1 egg, whisked
Extra brown sugar
Method
Add the flour, butter and salt to a mixing bowl and rub the ingredients together with your fingertips. You want a fairly coarse mixture, but just don't overwork it.
Add half of the the freshly squeezed lemon juice to the cold water, and add a tablespoon at a time to the flour mixture. Start squeezing the dough in the bowl to bring it all together. You don't want a "wet" mixture so be careful not to put too much water into it. Just one to three tablespoons will be enough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape/pat into a thick disk, wrap the dough tightly in cling film and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or at least until cold and firm.
About 15 minutes before you're ready to take the dough out of the fridge, you can prep the filling.
Preheat your oven to 200C.
In a seperate mixing bowl, add half of the the freshly squeezed lemon juice, sliced apples, sugar, cornflour, freeze dried Quandong and vanilla extract. Mix gently with your hands to combine (careful not to break your apple slices). Set aside.
Take the pastry dough out of the fridge and roll it out. It doesn't matter what shape you end up with, as this will give the galette the rustic look we're after.
Transfer your pastry dough to a baking tray lined with baking paper and dust the base with almond meal (ground almonds).
Lay out the apple slices over the almond meal in any formation you like. They don't need to be in any particular pattern - just have fun!
Fold in the overhanging pastry. This doesn't have to be particularly neat either, so don't overthink it. The more rustic the better.
Brush the pastry edges with egg and generously sprinkle brown sugar on top of the brushed pastry.
Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 200C. Every oven is not created equally so check back every 5 minutes from the 20 minute mark.
Take out of the oven, and let it set for 5 minutes.
Serve warm on it's own, or with a scoop of ice cream, or even some homemade salted caramel (my recipe is coming soon!).
