Here's To Tinned Peaches
A guest special from Rosa Tahoe Williams
This week I’m thrilled to share a Guest Special recipe, which comes from excellent baker and cook Rosa Tahoe Williams. You may know Rosa as @toomanyforks on Instagram, where she shares the wealth of delicious treats that come out of her kitchen. The recipe is a Tinned Peach and Basil Brown Sugar Galette, wrapped in the most delightful pastry I’ve eaten in a long while. I sincerely hope you make it!
I LOVE TINNED FOOD. So much so that I have been toying with the idea of a Tinned Food Month on the newsletter, which would not be hard. Tinned peaches, I am especially fond of – their sunshine yellow colour and satisfying texture make them a quick and cheap way to brighten up your winter. So I was particularly pleased when Rosa suggested this recipe to share with you all.
I’ve been enamoured by Rosa’s food ever since seeing her gorgeous pink friands a couple of years ago. Whether it’s a chocolate cake, pancake stack or roasted potatoes, to see Rosa’s food is to want to eat it. Rosa’s own Substack offers more where this came from, so I highly recommend a subscribe there too.
Until I cooked this week’s recipe I had actually never made a galette, I’m ashamed to say. I’ve made lots of Breton buckwheat galettes. But never the freeform pastry version. With its appealing absence of strict edges or rules and appealing quantity of butter, it’s safe to say I will be making a lot more of these.
Rosa’s brown sugar galette pastry, with it’s not-too-sweet, scone like crust, sprinkled with demerara sugar, is something I could quite happily eat all on its own. But with the clever filling of peach and basil that she has put together, a phenomenal dessert is born. The basil’s fragrance adds interest and emphasises the peach’s sweetness, and when the whole thing is served with cream, greatness awaits. ‘Peaches and cream’ might conjure up a hint of Alabama in August, and that’s what’s nice about it. But actually you can enjoy this holy combination on a grey February day, and you should.
Rosa says:
Tinned peaches are a real thing of joy. I grew up eating them at my grandparents and from there have made many desserts with them. This galette is the perfect balance of achievable and fancy. The basil brightens the peaches up and is lovely with the brown sugary flavours.
Rosa’s Tinned Peach and Basil Brown Sugar Galette
160g plain (all purpose) flour
100g cold unsalted butter, diced
18g golden caster sugar
15g light brown sugar
2-3 tbsp ice cold water
A pinch of salt
1 x 420g tin of peach slices
30g fresh basil
2 tbsp demerara sugar
1 egg (beaten, for egg wash)
In a deep bowl combine the flour, golden caster sugar, light brown sugar and a pinch of salt, stir together and then add the butter. Rub the butter into the flour mix using either a pastry cutter or your fingers until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Gradually add the ice cold water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together. The dough should be fairly smooth but not sticky. Shape the dough into a disc and wrap in clingfilm, then chill in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours.
Pour the tinned peaches and the syrup (or juice) into a pan and add the fresh basil. Bring to a gentle boil and let simmer on a low heat for 10-15 minutes until the syrup has reduced. Set aside and let the basil infuse the peaches whilst the dough chills.
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Take the dough from the fridge and let it soften just a little, so that it’s easy to roll. Generously dust your worktop with flour and roll the dough out to a rough circle shape. It should be approximately ¼ of an inch thick. One of the many joys of making a galette is that the shape does not have to be perfect!
Once the dough is rolled out to your desired shape take the peach slices from the syrup and arrange them in the centre of the dough, leaving a 3-4 inch border. Fold the edges of the galette in so that they slightly overlap with the peaches. Brush the dough with the beaten egg and scatter the demerara sugar across the dough.
Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown.
Before serving, drizzle some of the remaining basil syrup across the peachy centre. The galette is best served straight away with either crème fraîche, double cream, clotted cream or vanilla ice cream.
NB:
This recipe makes enough to serve 2-3 people, if you’re hosting for more you can double the ingredients.
If your peach slices are rather large, slice them into two thinner slices to give you more to fan out.
The dough can be made ahead of time and chilled overnight.
Huge thanks to Rosa for this treat of a recipe. For more tinned peach goodness, check out the Uruguayan Chajá recipe that featured on the newsletter last year. And find more Guest Specials here. See you next time!