Monday, October 17, 2011

How Bad Can That Be?

Have you been to the Berkeley Bowl? Have you seen how many produce varietals that place stocks?! Oh, you have. Am I probably the last person on earth to make that pilgrimage and have that mind-blowing, jaw-dropping experience? Yes. Yes I most likely am.
This hippie-hipster argument about who found what organic produce first could go on for a long time. Point is: that place is amazing. I got brought there by my produce-loving, Berkeley-residing sister, Michaela. Michaela had to push the cart the whole way around the store because I kept freaking out in the aisles saying things like “Dude. Shut the front door. They have fresh espazote?! I’ve never even seen fresh espazote!” and looking at the other shoppers wondering, “Do they even get how cool this place is?!”
 Case in point: this is just part of the apple section of the produce department.

So you can see why I’d get all revved up about something like this. One of the most interesting things I found, however, was fresh, house-made almond paste.  So I decided to make a pear and almond galette. As you do. This galette operates under the Ina Garten Principle of “if you put delicious things together, it will almost always compound their deliciousness.” This isn't difficult. It’s not even a recipe. 

What I did was just roll out some (again) store bought pastry crust, line the bottom with the softened almond paste, top with some delicious sliced red pears (concentric circle layout optional), sprinkle with some demerara sugar and a little cinnamon, and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Top with vanilla ice cream. And you know what? It was delicious. The deliciousness was indeed compounded.
If I were feeling fancy, I maybe would have brushed the exposed crust with some egg white then some more of the demerara, but by that point I was pretty exhausted from all the produce varietals. That’s The Bowl for you.

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