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.)

This recipe is for making one portion of dough, but it doubles or triples really well; and can be frozen for up to one month.

Pastry Dough

A versatile sour cream dough, this pastry can be used to make savory galettes if you omit the sugar.

1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 tablespoons sour cream
ice water (if needed)

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, and pulse until mixed. Add the butter, one piece at a time, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand. Chill the work bowl for 15 minutes.

Replace the work bowl and add the sour cream, pulsing until dough just comes together. Depending on the weather and humidity, you may need to add ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. Gather the dough, press gently to create a circle, and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Strawberry-Rhubarb and Ricotta Galette

Try to get a high quality, fresh ricotta cheese for this recipe. I used a nutty, sheeps’ milk variety. It will probably be necessary to let the ricotta drain overnight. Simply place the ricotta in a fine mesh colander, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

2 cups rhubarb, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
2 cups strawberries, sliced haphazardly
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup ricotta cheese, drained
1 teaspoon vanilla
40-50 scrapes whole nutmeg, or a generous pinch of ground
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice up the rhubarb, and toss with 1/4 cup of sugar. Slice strawberries and then add them to the rhubarb with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and toss well to cover. In a separate small bowl, mix the vanilla, ricotta, and nutmeg, until well incorporated.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled pastry dough to a 14-inch round. Transfer dough to a baking sheet, and sprinkle the flour on top of dough, leaving a two-inch border for the crust. Add the ricotta cheese, spreading fairly evenly, with small mounds throughout the dough’s surface. Take handfuls of the strawberry-rhubarb mixture, leaving the remaining juices, and place them evenly over the ricotta, leaving a two-inch border for the crust. Some juice will have exuded from the strawberry-rhubarb mixture, this juice will not be used, otherwise the tart will become soggy, not crisp.

Fold over the remaining edge of the dough, to form a crust, pressing gently to insure the galette crust stays closed. Dot the surface of the galette with the remaining tablespoon of butter, and bake for approximately 40 minutes. Cover galette with foil halfway through baking process if it appears to browning too quickly. Remove from oven, and let cool at least 10 minutes, before slicing. Galette should be toasty brown, with a crisp crust. Dust the edges of galette with powdered sugar if desired.