Saucy Tart

Baking and cooking require time, technique and personality. If you haven't guessed already, I'm not a detail-oriented person and I love recipies that allow creativity in presentation. So rather than putting together a tart (often these look like super-glazed thin pies with meticulously arranged fruit designs on top), I like baking galettes. A galette is the messy version of a tart. And it sounds so French. So fancy. So now we make a free-form tart, using the following technique, and involving ANYTHING you want for the filling (I'll explain later).

Savory Galette Appetizer:

• 1 frozen pie crust
• Crumbled fresh goat cheese or crumbled gorgonzola (small package)
• 6 or more fresh ripe plums or figs
• Fresh thyme or rosemary
• Splash of olive oil, pinch of salt and sugar if needed

Lay out the frozen pie crust on a cookie sheet. In the end, we want to fold the edges up and over the filling, by about an inch. Crumble a generous layer of cheese into the middle of the pie crust. Chop and crumble a nice amount of fresh thyme or rosemary on top of this layer. In a bowl, combine thinly sliced fruit, olive oil and salt. Taste and add sugar if needed, based on sweetness of the fruit. Put the fruit on top of cheese in a thin layer and wrap the edges of the crust up and around the fruit. Pop it in the oven at 375 for about 40 minutes, maybe more(check it after 30 to make sure the crust isn't overcooked). This is soooooo good. I made it last night for a dinner party and tried three different combinations. Goat cheese gets really creamy when it is cooked, but the flavor of the gorgonzola and figs with rosemary was the crowd favorite.

Now the great thing is that this Galette idea is super simple, and can be modified to be a dessert. Thinly slice apples. Add cinnamon and sugar, perhaps some currants too. Add about two tablespoons of flour. Toss and use this as your filling. The only secret you need to know is that when you use a runny fruit (apples get really juicy when you cook them - and peaches may just not work for this), you need to add some flour. Otherwise you will have serious issues with the crust, and may have a big puddle in your oven when you're done.