Blueberry pecan galette

It starts in the corner of the farmers market where the nice lady sells cantaloupe and oh, look, blueberries, too. Better grab them while I see them. Then I come across the Bayfield berry booth, and I know those are great so I get some more along with some strawberries. But then across the way I see the guy from Hazelwood Creek and I know those are the best blueberries ever.

Do this routine even one week and you end up with a bumper crop of berries. Repeat this folly for a couple of weeks and you've got a serious berry glut that needs using up.

So step one was this galette, which had the appeal of both using up blueberries and being called rustic, code words for not having to take time to finesse anything. This beckoned from the cover of the second-most recent issue of Bon Appetit.

Which is a far better thing than the current issue that just arrived. At first I didn't even think it had an actual cover, just a Samsung refrigerator ad with the Bon Appetit logo over the top. I realize I work for an institution that can't throw stones about cover ads, but this one trampled all over some sort of line. I'm sure they need all the revenue they can get, since subscriptions are a drop in the revenue bucket, but yikes. I find the magazine increasingly less relevant and the recipes less appealing, but I do feel some loyalty to a magazine I've looked forward to each month since the early 1990s. Plus, really, how did we live before the epicurious search function? So I'll cut them some slack For now. And eat their galette.

Blueberry pecan galette
Adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2015

Ingredients
Dough
1/2 cup pecans
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, chilled, cut into pieces
3 to 4 tablespoons water

Filling
2 cups blueberries
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 tablepoons milk or cream

Method
In a preheated 350-degree oven, toast pecans for about 10 minutes, tossing once. Let cool.

In food processor, whir pecans until they look like coarse meal. Add 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, 2 teaspoons sugar, salt and cinnamon and combine. Add butter and pulse until the coarse meal stage. With motor running, add water a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together. Knead together lightly and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours until firm.

Mix blueberries, cornstarch, lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl.

On a lightly floured board, roll out dough to a 12-inch circle. (If your dough is really sticky, rolling it between two sheets of plastic wrap helps. Transfer dough to a cookie sheet topped with parchment paper. Top dough with blueberry mixture, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold edges over topping. Brush edges with milk or cream. Sprinkle with more sugar.

Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 45-50 minutes until filling is bubbly. Let cool slightly before slicing. Serves 6-ish. (The original recipe said 10, but we're talking slivers, and how do you expect it to support ice cream, for pity sake?)

Since the recipe said it could be made a day ahead and stored tightly wrapped at room temperature, much like a pie, I stored the leftovers that way and it worked fine.

Rating: A fine enough use for blueberries and a great excuse to serve a dollop of homemade ice cream. The toasted pecans give the dough an almost whole wheat appearance and a nutty flavor. Might try with some lemon peel next time. And maybe sprinkle with demerara sugar.