Friday, July 9, 2010

Blueberry galette and publications


Somehow, my life revolves around publications. As a teenager, I used to publish articles in the school magazine. Nothing too fancy, but it was fun and it gave me the opportunity to write about whatever I wanted (more or less). A few years later, while in college, I published poems and short stories in a Catalan website. I wrote always with a nickname, just because I'm not ready for the world to associate my verbal ramblings to myself. Then all the sudden, for some reason, I stopped writing. 

Wait wait, don't be too sad. The artsy part of myself didn't get lost, it just changed instruments. I certainly forgot about pens, papers and keyboards, but I discovered cameras. My dad and one of my sisters are both great photographers, so I guess the transition was meant to happen. 

By the end of college, I was all into metal music. The only one to blame is my friend M, who plays in a band and introduced me to several other bands. I loved going to shows and taking pictures, all with a point and shoot and no photo editing. Still, the shots were decent and I ended up being pretty much the official photographer of my friends' bands. 



But change doesn't stop. I finished college, moved to the US, to a variety of music styles and to a lab at M.I.T.. In the academic world, science is all about publications. People need to know what you're doing in order to establish collaborations, give you money and such things. So I spent my one year project working on tons of experiments that eventually found their place in three papers.  (I'm not gonna go on with what my research was about but if you're interested I'll be happy to tell you more about it). 

After that project, I found a job, started my PhD applications and this blog. At first it was only about publishing posts. Then I took the photography of the recipes more seriously and started sending my pictures to Foodgawker and Tastespotting. The first has already published some of my pictures. Getting published in Tastespotting proved very difficult, but I finally got published this week! I know lots of my fellow bloggers get published there. For them it's probably no big deal. To me it is. It proves that no matter if it's science or photography, perseverance takes you places. 



I made this galette for 4th of July while staying at my friends' place. (Excuse the pictures of the finished product, they are not exactly ideal). They all loved it. My friend S asked me to publish the recipe ASAP, so here it goes. Easy and delicious. According to S, very tasty. Maybe he liked it so much because it has some bourbon in it. Oh, and best of news, I got told yesterday that another one of our papers has been accepted for publication. I hope to be publishing many more recipes  and papers in the upcoming years. Now, galette.

Blueberry galette
Print this recipe

Pate brisee:
adapted from Martha Stewart via Smitten Kitchen
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 stick butter, very cold, cut into pieces
1/4 cup water, freezing

In a bowl, combine, flour, sugar and salt. Stir in the butter pieces and work them into the dough. I used my hands, you can use a pastry blender. If you're making this in summer you'll want to work fast to prevent the butter from softening. Once the mix resembles coarse pebbles, add the cold water and keep on working the dough until it comes together as a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Filling
3/4 pint blueberries (or as many as you can fit in your dough)
3 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon of sugar

Wash your blueberries. Toss them together with the bourbon and sugar and let them sit in the fridge while you refrigerate your dough.

Assemble the galette

Preheat your oven to 375 F
Roll your dough into a disc (I did it with my hands because my friends don't have a rolling pin, works just fine). Leaving a 2 inch border, place your blueberries on the dough. Brush the edges with egg wash and then fold them over the fruit to form a seam. Brush the outside part of the seam with more egg wash and sprinkle with some sugar. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the fruit filling is bubbly. Serve cold or at room temperature.

16 comments:

Maria said...

Good morning dsd Montreal!
I tant q publicaras mes!! Pots escriure un poema abans d la recepta!! It could be cheese!! (a different way to say cool, ho vaig sentir a la TV, jeje)
La recepta m'encanta, porta blueberries, aixi q em tens babejant!!
Petonets!

http://www.chilenacocina.com/ said...

HOLA DESDE ARGENTINA
ESTA MUY BUENA TU RECETAS Y LAS FOTOS MUY LINDA
FELIZ FIN DE SEMANA

Neus said...

Quines fotos...
Una pregunta com que escrius amb anglés???
un petonet

Neus said...

I aixi encara practiques més...ja has estas al oest, nosaltres aquest estiu venim a la costa oest de vacances...
un petonet

Judith said...

Quina bona pinta!!!

Lydia said...

Delicioso! Tengo ganas de preparar una galette así con fruta fresca. Petons

Mary Bergfeld said...

Your galette is really beautiful. This is my first visit to your blog and I've spent some time reading your earlier posts. You feature marvelous recipes and I can't wait to come back. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

Jenn said...

Gorgeous galette and congrats on your paper! Happy to find your blog as well - yay for scientist food bloggers!

Sook said...

I love baking using blueberries. They transform into something really sweet and delicious when they are baked. :)

LyB said...

This tart looks fantastic, blueberries are one of my favorite fruits. I can't wait to see the first local blueberries of our farmer's market!

Carmen said...

M'encanten els nabius, tan sucosos i dolços ummm, que rics, així que aquesta galette ha de ser una delícia.

Escolta, si vols fer orxata digues-m'ho i sense cap problema et faig un enviament de xufes, pensa-t'ho i ja em diràs.
Petonets

yummy supper said...

That first blueberry photo is so irresistible! I bet your galette was delicious.
-E

Ksenia said...

Havia començat a escriure el comentari i volia dir-te que la recepta m'encanta, però m'he adonat que no tinc ni idea de com es diu "blueberry" en català. He hagut de buscar en el diccionari, i se suposa que es "nabiu". Mai havia sentit a ningú anomenar-lo O.o (tampoc es que parli gaire de fruites i verdures amb els meus amics xD).

Tens raó: que et publiquin a Tastespotting o Foodgawker no es fàcil, així que m'analegro que ho hagis aconseguit :D A vegades són molt tiquismiquis, i has de saber quin estil els agrada: normalment amb la composició centrada i colors vius i molta llum. Jo normalment quan edito guardo una versió apart, perquè amb ells no pots ser gaire "artístic" >.<

Jo no he escrit tota la meva vida com tú, però m'agrada. He estat mig any escrivint un treball de recerca, i tot i que es un pal, com a mínim he notat que la meva escriptura ha millorat :D I suposo que com tú em tocarà escriure molts treballs més durant la meva vida. Però tampoc em queixo :P

No sabía que t'agradava el metal :) Tots els meus amics escolten pop, i jo no el suporto >.< La oreja de Van Gogh em posa dels nervis ¬¬ Jo prefereixo el rock i el rock industrial, tot i que Terminal Choice (que m'agrada) es classifica com a "Dark Electro Industrial Metal"

Oooops, m'ha tornat a sortir un comentari ben llarg :P
PS: M'encanta la primera foto :D Em venen ganes de menjarme la pantalla del portàtil! (tranquil·la, m'he pogut controlar però)

M. said...

the first photo of the bowl of blueberries so gorgeous,
congrats on your publication :)

Lisa said...

What a gorgeous galette! You have a lovely, lovely blog. =)

Anonymous said...

A winter storm is on it's way tonight. A perfect evening to make this blueberry galette, I love the idea of using bourbon in the recipe. I enjoyed reading about what your life is like. Thank you

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