I know.
Like I've never made it before and then all of a sudden I've made two in seven days.  That's just the way it rolls sometimes.  Nothing and then full on, out of control.
The reason that this happened was because we were having friends over for dinner.  I'm happy to announce to you all that this entertaining experience was a pleasant one for me.  Most of the work was done way ahead of time and I was able to eat and to enjoy friends without stressing about the food, fussing too much, losing my appetite and generally not enjoying myself.
I decided that rustic was the way to go for this one.  Shepherds Pie (with the successful addition of lentils to the meat mixture - yeah, I'm proud of that one too), Apple Galette served with homemade vanilla ice cream.  I made everything ahead of time enough that it just had to be heated and then served.  It worked perfectly.

Ok, so not ahead of time enough apparently.  This happened while I was in the kitchen... camera shenanigans.

I've been thinking a lot about this whole 'foodie' label thing lately.  Thinking about how I am kinda a food snob and then kinda not at the same time.  Sometimes when I tell people that I'm a food blogger or that I feel strongly about the food industry or that I simply refuse to eat food X then I feel kinda elitist.  The truth is though that I don't need exotic ingredients, expensive ingredients or recipes that are complicated or take hours of labour.  I DO need whole food, simple, real food.  I need food that tastes like it should taste, for real, and not how some lab made it taste.  What makes french food so wonderful is not the way they make complicated food taste good but the way that they can make such simple, everyday ingredients so delicious.  Rustic, delicious and simple.  Hence... Galette... again.  Crust. Apples. Cinnamon. Sugar.  Vanilla Ice Cream!
It was great to see our friends again and they brought a little something for us all to enjoy as well.

Truth be told, we had eaten quite a few already.

They also brought along the news that they will be 3 instead of 2 very soon, which is awesome news.


If we had known we would have popped a cork but then the one of us wouldn't have been able to drink the bubbly to celebrate and that just doesn't seem fair.  So that part of the celebration will wait until after #3 is here with us.  Instead of champagne we ate our shepherd's pie (multiple helpings and no leftovers thank you very much), had generous helpings of galette with a nice big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream sliding off the warm galette and laughed... a lot.


Apple Galette adapted from all over the place
serves 6

Filling:
6 apples or so, in slices for pie
2 tbsp brown sugar
dash of salt
splash of lemon juice (optional)

Crust:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold
2 tbsp ice water
1 tbsp sour cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Combine the flour and the salt.  Cut in the cold butter using a fork or a pastry cutter.  Once the butter is blended and the mixture looks crumbly then add the water and sour cream.  Using a spoon or your hands (yes!) to mix it into a ball.  If you need more water then add little by little until the dough forms an easy ball.


Refrigerate for at least an hour.  Before rolling you may want to take out the dough for about 10 minutes to soften up.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's about 1/4 inch thick and quite a circumference.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Carefully place the dough on a lined baking sheet (use parchment or a silicon liner).
Take the apple mixture and place it in the centre of the dough circle.  Spread out the apple leaving  3 inches or so at each edge.  Fold up the edges of the dough around the apples.


Brush the dough with melted butter and pour any remaining melted butter over the apples.
Bake for about 35 minutes or until the apples are bubbling and the dough is turning golden brown on the edges.
Cool for about 10 minutes.
Serve warm with homemade vanilla ice cream (is there any other way?)