Sable Breton Galette with Berries

Per Nana~
Brittany is the area of France where my Father was born and raised.  When Hubby and I traveled there we tried to find information about the family.  The Hotel de ville in the little village of Scaer did not have records dating back in their system.   My Father was born in 1892. The only thing we came across was a boulangerie with my maiden name.  I was so excited and took pictures to share with all my siblings.  We did go into the bakery but they could not understand me and so we gave up.  We did buy ourselves a baguette which was delicious.

This week's recipe of breton galette reminds me so much of the Breton cake that my Mother prepared every Christmas made with butter, eggs, and sugar. I still make it occasionally but only Tricia and I seem to enjoy it.

I decided to make individual tart forms since there are only the two of us and I can prepare them fresh each time. Neither hubby or I like lemon curd so I decided to improvise with some Zabaglione Cream instead. Unfortunately, when baking individual cakes I should have cut the time back because mine were very well done.  (burnt would be a better description). 

On top of that, my zabaglione cream did not turn out well.  I'm not sure what happened because I have made it before.

The desert is a lovely addition to any dinner, very tasty and so pretty that I am definitely going to give this another try, only I think I will do the complete tart pan rather than individual ones.

Per Tricia~

Sorry but I could not knock out the recipe this week due to other commitments HOWEVER I must report that Nana did (thank goodness !!) share her results and they were insanely good. Insane. I can not recall the last time I ate a dessert that lovely and while I look forward to testing it with lemon curd too - her zabaglione filling was unbelieveable. 

And they were SO not burnt :) In fact, once I got them home I immediately had to get my own camera out since they were THAT pretty. And I knew they would not be sticking around too long.......Oh my, I will 110% be back to do this one very soon. Thank you Dorie (and Nana !!)

PS- in hopes that the 3rd time will indeed be the charm......Nana and I decided rather spontaneously to reschedule our France trip and will be leaving next week....so we will miss the following two French Fridays. Wish us luck and we look forward to catching up when we return !

Back-of-the-Card Cheese & Olive Bread

Per Nana~
The hardest thing about this recipe was grating the cheese. The ingredients were so delicious together, I used Gruyere cheese, pitted oil cured olives and tapenade. Next time I would like to add some sun-dried tomato, as I think it will add a nice flavor.


I thought the bread baked perfectly and we enjoyed it both warm and at room temperature. I had a bit of creamy goat cheese left from last week's recipe and decided to top a slice of the bread with it.

It was good, but I am sure cream cheese would be even better.


This recipe reminds me of some of the "Impossible Pies" listed a Bisquick box, except this one makes a loaf. My favorite is the Impossible Zucchini Pie, which I made in the summer when zucchini is plentiful.
Per Tricia~
I concur with Nana about the cheese grating, so indeed this was a simple recipe. I used the same cheese and olives (guess who picked them up for me when she found exactly what we needed :). I did add the lemon zest and wavered about trying cob-smoked bacon in lieu of the tapenade but decided to go the "original" way the first time.

Before baking, it matched my granite......

Mine also baked beautifully but while I love the ingredients separately, and savory breads in general, the aroma of this baking did not do it for me. My guys all willingly taste tested but my husband was the only one who had more than one bite. The boys said it was "ok" and my husband said it was good....until I told him how much the ingredients cost and asked he thought it was "good enough to make again". Nope. Not bad but not a winner this week.  We are all too spoiled, having had additional plates of last week's strawberry balsamic tartine :)

Happy French Friday !

Goat Cheese & Strawberry Tartine

Per Tricia~

This was utterly lovely. Yum.

We all were raving about the results and those who watched me create the tartine(s) commented that the Balsamic Vinegar and pepper were much less obvious than they expected. Those who walked into the kitchen afterward had to look hard at the tartines to guess what was included in them :) We all just loved this unusual combo. 

My bread was from the LeBus bakery in Philly and I chose a plain baguette as well as a multigrain baguette. Surprisingly, we all preferred the plain baguette better - with my husband suggesting the other flavor actually distracted him a bit from the toppings. Keep in mind both options were still fabulous, we just preferred the plain.

For the sake of taste testing, I made an extra few with whipped Philadelphia cream cheese too - since we almost always have this in the fridge. It was darn nice. Not as wonderful as that Vermont Goat Cheese Nana scored for us, but great in a pinch.   

 This was a fun adventure that offers a great appetizer and wonderful "go to" for a simple lunch - I can't wait to have some more........

Per Nana~
This was an absolutely wonderful tartine ! I have never had balsamic vinegar with strawberries before but they are perfect together.

 It's amazing the things we learn from these recipes- I had never even heard of

 "creamy" goat cheese before, but I found some from the Vermont Butter

 & Cheese Creamery that they sold in Wegman's grocery store. 

Since these should be eaten as soon as possible, I only made 8 slices between the two of us. The strawberries were huge, so I had to cut them into about 8  pieces each. All in all, it makes a beautiful little appetizer.  I love the ease of these recipes that we have made so far this month.