I'm in my little cabin in the Sierras enjoying summer's last hurrah. Fall is definitely in the air. There is some smoke from distant fires that are burning in the foothills, but our little area has been spared so far. A couple of years ago, we had a huge fire in the Emigrant Wilderness that made it difficult to be here. People living in the area had to stay inside during the day because of the smoke. But this year, people are able to come up from the Central Valley of California to enjoy the High Sierras and our lake. There are lots of hikers and campers at the forest service office who get permits to enjoy the high mountains. The Pacific Crest Trail crosses at the top of Sonora Pass at an elevation of 9500 feet. The John Muir trail is part of the Pacific Crest Trail to the south. When I do my day hikes in these beautiful mountains, I always imagine the first settlers crossing these treacherous mountains. Some areas have appropriate names like Deadman's Creek.Here in Pinecrest, we are 60 miles (as the bird flies) from Yosemite National Park. Since I can't fly, I have to go the long way around the Emigrant Wilderness to visit Yosemite. South of the lake is a charming little town called Sonora, a historic commercial center where gold miners brought their gold. Next to Sonora is Columbia, a smaller historic gold mining town. My husband's grandfather and his brother used to hitch up a wagon to deliver produce to the miners from their ranch in Knight's Ferry which is in the Sierra foothills. 
 

Well, you ask yourself, what does this have to do with a cooking blog? Nothing really, but I enjoy sharing part of my world with my blogging buddies—just as I enjoy reading about Australia, England, Italy, and other countries where some of my blogger friends live. 

Today, I'm going to share a recipe with you that I have made numerous times. It is a scrumptious meal to share with friends and is easy to make. The recipe comes from Elfie Krieger at the “Food Network.” I tweaked it quite a bit. It is not inexpensive because it requires almost two pounds of shrimp. I usually serve this dish with quinoa and peas. Sometimes I serve it with polenta, but always with crusty bread and a salad.

For the last four weeks, I have been obsessed with galettes. Since I rarely make them, I made quite a few to try and decide which is the best. Herein lies the problem, as all my tasters liked different ones. So I slowly worked my way though them all and decided to post this one. It is a combination of two recipes, one by Jaques Pépin published in Food & Wine and the cover recipe of the July 2015 issue of bon appétit.

Galettes are all about the dough — and keeping the bottom from being mushy. I tried making crust using cornmeal, but was not impressed with the outcome. I like my fruit to be seasonal, so I made galettes with blueberries, raspberries, apricots and plums (my personal favorite). Sometimes I mix various fruits together that are leftover in my fridge. My final galette had blueberries, raspberries and two figs in it.

Jaques Pépin’s galette is marvelous with a buttery, flaky crust that that comes together in mere seconds. I made a couple of changes, such as adding one teaspoon of sugar to the dough, putting the butter in the freezer (until it is almost frozen), and making sure the water is ice cold. The secret to this dough is not to over mix it. I also brushed a tablespoon of milk on the crust and sprinkled it with a tablespoon of turbinado raw sugar before baking. I made the galette twice, but didn’t add the marmalade on the baked crust the first time. Here is the link to the Plum Galette recipe by Jaques Pépin. 

I like the idea of adding nuts to the crust, which is what the bon appétit  cover recipe did. They used pecans, but I decided to use almonds instead. I also added some ground almonds, sugar and flour to the bottom of the dough to prevent the galette from getting soggy. I am pleased to share the final version with you. I served this with my homemade 
strawberry ice cream.

I wrote about my Paris and Brittany trip under my Wanderlust column. If you like, you can click on the link here (Paris or Brittany) or go under my Wanderlust column on the top of my blog to read about my travels. 


Enjoy and have a wonderful week. Life is deliciously beautiful.