DMD Kitchen: Rhubarb Galette

I've always loved rhubarb since I was a little girl. It grew in dense bunches in the garden rows in Estonia where I spent my summers - deep red, with dark gnarly looking leaves. We've always made compote with it, it's was quite refreshing on the hot evening after a day spent on the beach by the sea.

I suddenly had a taste for it recently, only decided to make a dessert with it. I settled on a galette, rhubarb shouldn't be anything complicated and it definitely should be a rustic easy dessert. Try to find the thin stalks, deep in color. If you're stuck with thick ones, cut them in half length-wise first. Slice until the green part, don't use the green. I taste a little piece first to see how tart it is. And never ever touch the leaves (interesting fact: they're poisonous)


Rhubarb Galette

2 C rhubarb chunks (about 1/4inch thick)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/2C sugar
1/4C AP flour
1t vanilla
2t orange zest
Juice of 1/4 fresh orange (can be substituted with water if rhubarb is sweet, about 1T)
1 small egg
1T raw sugar

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with two pieces of parchment paper. Roll out puff pastry on the parchment, smooth out any seams. I run a roller over it just to make it nice and smooth. In a large bowl, mix rhubarb with zest and vanilla. Add sugar and flour, stir together. Squeeze the orange (or use water) over the mixture, continue to mix. The juice will help the flour and the sugar coat the rhubarb instead of settling on the bottom of the bowl.
Pile the rhubarb mixture into the center of the puff pastry, leaving about an 1.5in to fold over. Don't worry about making a large mound, it will all cook down. Fold over the pastry, it will pull and stretch so you can cut off the extra dough if it suddenly starts looking like a calzone instead of a tart. Mix the egg with 1T of water to make an egg wash, brush the top of the pastry covering all the dough. Sprinkle the dough evenly with raw sugar. 25 minutes in the oven (or until the dough is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. I set the timer and went outside on the patio, totally forgetting about the oven so mine so it was longer than 25 mins). The tart will puff up while baking and the filling might bubble over a bit. It deflates as it cools. Cool completely. I let it sit on the baking sheet until the steam died down from the filling, then moved it to the cooling rack. Can be served with a scoop of vanilla gelato, but I like it just the way it is.

Bon Apetit!