Simple and elegant, this Easy Apple Galette is as delicious as it is easy to put together. Serve it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of fresh whipped cream and enjoy the simple pleasures in life.
For the past several weeks, I have found myself in the curious position of not being totally well. Not so unwell that I was bedridden, unable to work, or confined to a drug-induced stupor to get a little relief (although there were a few rough days that I absolutely took my medication and checked out for the day), but just enough to make day to day life a little miserable. It started with a literal pain in the neck that refused to take it’s leave, and has ended with the reemergence of a heart condition that makes my ticker bounce around in my chest like an offbeat drummer. Fortunately, neither malady is life-threatening (although it sure feels like it sometimes) but I have wondered in the last few days if this is really a reminder from above that life is short.
So, I’ve started looking for my dreams.
Not the wild, “I want to be a rockstar” dreams, more the “I want to write a book” dreams. The dreams you think about on the drive to work, or standing in the peace and quiet of the shower. The ones you indulge in when find yourself in an empty house with a few hours to kill. For me, it’s been getting back in the darkroom, a place completely foreign to younger generations. I’ve found myself standing in the pitch black of my outdoor shed rolling film onto a metal reel and inhaling the pickle-juice like fumes of fixer. I’m getting a thrill out of showing my daughter the magic of watching an image magically appear by the red light of a darkroom lamp. It’s a completely selfish ambition and one I’ve stuck on the back burner for far too long.
What I’ve learned is that one shouldn’t shove those unquenchable cravings to the dusty recesses of your mind for too long. It makes you regretful, resentful and leaves you unsatisfied. Whether it’s darkrooms or deep sea diving or just wanting that slice of apple pie, life is too short to deny yourself the thing that makes it enjoyable. Living cannot be all “eating your veggies”, sometimes it needs to be warm apple pie and ice cream for dinner, because it’s those little pleasures that makes life – no matter how short – worth living.
Ingredients
- 1 packaged refrigerated pie crust not in a pie tin
- 3 large Granny Smith apples or some other tart apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
- Fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (don’t skip this. Parchment paper - not wax paper!- is your friend).
- On a flat surface briefly roll out the pie crust so that is about 10-11 inches in diameter. Place on the parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the apples, lemon juice, vanilla, sugars, pie spice, salt and cornstarch and toss together with clean hands until the apples are coated. Pour the contents of the bowl right in the middle of the pie crust and even out into a circle leaving about 1 ½ inches of the crust exposed. Bring the edges of the crust over the apples and fold so that there is an edge of crust all the way around the apples. Brush the top crust with the egg wash and sprinkle with a little more sugar. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the apples are cooked through. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.
Leave a Reply