When I was surfing for a dessert recipe, I stumbled on galette. I decided to make a cherry galette. I wasn't entirely sure what galette is and I never baked anything with fresh cherries. But the more I read, the more excited I got.
It could: (a) taste good, (b) prettify my red metal plate from Ocean State Job Lot and (c) be easy enough that even I, not great at pastry, could make it.
Galette is free form.
As in you don't have to fit the dough into a pie pan.
As in, so what if the sides are uneven?
As in, it's kind of like toddler art --- everything is fabulous no matter what it looks like.
Next was the cherry challenge. I had to remove the pit from every single cherry. There were a lot of them and cherries don't surrender their pits easily. If there was such a thing as a pit remover, I didn't have one. I started by cutting a knife halfway through a cherry. Then, I held its slimy body with my left hand while trying to grasp the pit with my right thumb and forefinger. I got a few pits out that way. But just as many cherries slipped out of my fingers and into the sink.
Back to research on the internet. I found "How to pit cherries if you don't have a cherry pitter." It was right above "Are cherries fattening?" I didn't read about the calories because I was already committed. (But I went back later to learn the excellent news that one cup, or 21 cherries contain less than 100 calories).
Using the chopstick, I still had to hold the slippery cherry in my left hand while I rammed the stick through the center with my right. Anyway, it was better than the knife technique.
With each stab of the chopstick, a few drops of cherry juice flew out. Across the counter. Some on the stool. Some on the floor. By the time I finished impaling all those cherries, my kitchen looked like a crime scene.
With the dirty work done, I turned to the fun. I mixed the cherries with sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, lime zest, lime juice and ginger. I poured the mixture into the free form galette crust and baked it at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.
It was bloody yummy.
