Fresh Pineapple Gallette

Vacations can be great. And I'm on one. Family; royal wedding sleepover (yes, we stayed up all night) shopping; wine tasting; hanging out; thinking about life. Since I've only got one more vacation day left in which to relax, let's get right to the short and sweet of it, shall we?

Here is a divine, simple dessert that showcases fresh fruit and perhaps one of the best, most buttery pastry crusts I've ever made. Minimal desserts speak to me more and more, and this one certainly is simple. The idea and pastry crust recipe comes from one of my old favorite inspirations, Flo Braker and her Art of Simple Baking. I loved this Fresh Pineapple Galette first time I made it decades ago, and love it still. My version is sans Flo's crumble topping, simplifying it even a bit more.

Flo's Butter Pastry is perfect just as she suggests. The only thing I do at all differently is to roll the pastry dough out between sheets of wax paper, which eliminates the need to use excess flour which can toughen the baked crust. The other thing I do, in lieu of the crumble topping which sweetens the galette, is to sprinkle demerara sugar in the bottom of the rolled crust, place the sliced fresh fruit atop the lightly sugared crust, then sprinkle more demerara sugar atop the fruit before folding the crust in. That's it! Super easy, fresh and good.

Our Willamette Valley bubbly from Domaine Meriwether, a 2000 Captain Clark Vintage Cuvee, a provided creamy palate, with citrusy and exotic fruit notes. The crispness of this methode champenoise (we call it Champagne at our house; no matter what the "rules" are, that is what it is) balances nicely with the buttery crust and tropical fruit. Definitely give this a try together.

I've got one day of vacation left before heading home to Oregon. I'm not quite ready to hit my usual routine, but I miss Murray the Amazing Wonder Dog and my little house in the country. Did I mention how great vacation can be??