This is the season for plums in southern France and the market has every kind of plum you can name and many you cannot.  Rosa said we would use Mirabelles and Quetsches for our plum gallette because the color combination would make a beautiful contrast and the Mirabelles were sweeter than the purple Quetsches.

She taught us how to make a sweet pastry that she uses for tartes…and in it she put a large amount of sweet butter AND quite a bit of crême fraiche so you know this pastry was not for the cholestoral conscious!  EVERYTHING that went into the pastry had been chilled in the refrigerator, and as soon as she had mixed the dough, it went back in the frig to chill.  It was a rustic tarte so she was not real exacting in how she rolled it out, but did teach us a couple of new tricks for rolling out pastry.  We then brushed the pastry with wild plum jam and the man with the largest hands very carefully laid the tiny plum halves in concentric circles, each circle in alternating colors.  Ron (I think that was his name) is a big strapping policeman from Ottawa and I do not think he is completely at home in the kitchen, but he did a superb job of making a beautiful tarte.  Rosa sprinkled the top of the fruit with raw vanilla sugar, dotted it with butter, carefully folded the pastry just barely over the edges, put it back in the frig to chill again.  Finally, she baked it in a very hot oven until the sugar and the fruit juices caramalized together and removed it to cool until after we finished our cheese course.  And of course, each slice of the galette was served with a generous dollop of crême fraiche.

Now, I am about to make another blog post of a little project that I have underway here in the apartment.  I will post a photo with a question.  The first person who correctly…totally correctly answers the question will be the recipient of a homemade galette using the pastry recipe I learned from Rosa.  It may not be the same fruit…depends on what fruit is in season when you and I are in the same space.  BUT, I will do you proud.