SHF- Strawberry-Rhubarb and Ricotta Galette

I love them all. Call it a pie, a tart, or a galette, I am an equal opportunity, pie eatin' fool. I will even choke down an ordinarily-too-plain apple pie if the occasion presents itself. But when it's spring/summertime and the lovely perfumed berries and sweet stone fruit abound, how can you not make a luscious dessert?

I have a friend in her early 20's and even though she was raised in California, she had never eaten rhubarb (gasp), never tasted that puckery crimson stalk, never had the perfect contrast of strawberries with this fleeting vegetable of sorts. So I decided to make her my favorite go-to for summertime sweets-- a galette. Her desire for pie came in perfect conjunction with this month's Sugar High Friday. Infinitely easy, and delightfully scrumptious, galettes can be made when you simply can't be bothered with rolling out two sets of dough, carefully fitting them in pie pans, and trimming bits of dough to make the perfect crusts. In a relatively brief amount of time you have a beautiful rustic tart, the edges rolled over containing all of the sumptuous juices.

Now this galette is neither too sweet or too bitter. Sweetened adequately with sugar, the filling is haphazardly laid upon little mounds of fresh ricotta cheese (I used a sheeps' milk variety), acting as a creamy base for the melange of fruity topping. As the galette bakes in the oven, juices from the strawberry-rhubarb topping seep onto the cheese creating a wonderfully sweet, tinged pink concoction. I love using mellow cheeses in my desserts, and with the pastry of the dough, the strawberry-rhubarb filling, and the mellifluous ricotta, this galette is reminiscent of a really good danish. (Actually it is not at all like any mediocre danish that I have consumed, only the stellar danishes of my dreams.)

If you would like the recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb and Ricotta Galette, go to the Daily Specials section.