Some fears exist to protect us from danger. For example, swimming in chummed water with nervous sharks is a very foolish move. Personally, I believe that anyone who chooses to swim within a mile of that scene may be negatively toying with their gut instinct…something that was designed to keep us alive. Some fears are best left unconquered, or perhaps that’s just my stubborn excuse for refusing to scuba dive or ski.
Other apprehensions exist to protect us from the possibility of: being judged by our peers, having a negative experience, or just plain failing miserably. Those frightening things hold us back from progressing, from collecting more comical stories and from learning.
Every six months or so I jot down a list of my most reasonable fears…and get to work fixing them. Why am I so hesitant to battle these things? And why am I oh so intrigued by them?
As I was looking over my current list last week, one thing stood out.
Fret #3-on THE LIST OF FRETS – Figs. Seriously. What are these things? They’re really freaky looking. But people rave about them and the culinary world seems obsessed with their strangeness. But how exactly do you eat one?
The first step is admitting that you have a problem…one that has existed 25 years for me. The second step is to get the hell over it and jump in the water, but only if moray eels aren’t lurking in the shadows. Yesterday I bit into my first fig, and to be quite honest… it felt like biting into a miniature skull-lacking alien head. Wanting ever so badly to spit it out, I suddenly realized how Evan must feel when he is innocently eating Chinese food and accidentally pops a water chestnut into his mouth. Confusion. Revulsion. Ahhhhhh and Betrayal. “How could they do this to me?” I may feel slightly betrayed by those I trusted with my palate, but at least it’s one more thing I can check off my list. And one more thing I will choose to abstain from.
Plums and Peaches glazed in brown sugar….enveloped in a barely sweet cornmeal hug. No sneaky figs here. Nothing to fear but pleasure. Topped with a dollop of whipped cream, this unpretentious rustic tart will be a perfect finale for a fall dinner.
Stone Fruit Cornmeal Galette
Ingredients
Filling
2 & 1/2 Cups of a mixture of Sliced Peaches and Plums
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
A Dash of Vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Corn Starch
Dough adapted from Good To The Grain
1 Cup Corn Meal
1 & 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Plus 3 Tablespoons Sugar
Dash of Salt
1 Stick Cold Unsalted Butter, Cubed
1/4 Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
2 Eggs
Directions
Combine your filling in a bowl and let rest for a bit.
In a mixer, combine your dry ingredients. Add the butter and mix with a paddle until you have created a course flour-like texture. Now mix in your heavy cream and eggs. Once combined, separate into 8 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle that is about a 1/4 inch thick. Don’t worry about perfection, these are meant to be rustic. Now scoop a little bit more than 1/4 cup of your fruit mixture into the center, and fold in the edges of your tart. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and pop in the freezer for at least an hour. I found that the galettes I left in the freezer for a full day turned out best.
Preheat the oven to 365 degrees and take the tarts straight from the freezer. Transfer your galettes to another parchment lined baking sheet, so that you aren’t sticking a freezing cold pan in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and eat with whipped cream or ice cream. Open up your journal, start your own List Of Frets….and get to work.
All photos were taken by the man who despises cooked fruit of any kind, Evan Lentz.
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