I love baking, but in summer even the thought of turning on the oven is enough to make me start sweating. So what do you do when it's your turn to make dessert for friends? I could have made something that required no baking at all — but then I thought about grilled pizza. If that worked, why couldn't I try something more daring on the grill, like a galette — a rustic pie filled with fruit?
I love the plethora of blueberries at farmers markets these days, and I can't get enough of rhubarb when it's in season. Adding a touch of dessert wine gives this dish a jam-like flavor, which pairs nicely with ice cream or Greek yogurt.
Grilled Blueberry-Rhubarb Galette
Recipe by Lara Felton, MBA, RDN
Ingredients Dough
1¼ cup whole-wheat pastry flour (or rye flour or all-purpose flour)
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon sugar
1 stick (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed, cold
¼ cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
Filling
1½ cups fresh blueberries
1½ cups rhubarb cut in ½-inch slices
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon port or late-harvest Zinfandel (optional)
Directions
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the cubed pieces of butter and incorporate them into the flour mixture using either your fingers or a pastry blender. You want to see some small (pea-sized or a bit smaller) butter pieces and some flattened pieces of butter evenly distributed in the flour mixture.
Make a well in the center of the dough. Add sour cream (or Greek yogurt) and 3 tablespoons ice water. Mix together with your hands to get a shaggy, loose dough. Add additional ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time as needed, to moisten the dough if it’s still too dry.
Either in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for a few minutes so that it comes together and isn’t too sticky. Pat the dough into a round disk, wrap in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
Rinse and slice the rhubarb and add it to a medium bowl. Rinse the blueberries and add them to the rhubarb. Add the sugar and cornstarch and stir everything together to evenly coat the berries and rhubarb. Add wine, if using, and stir into the berry mixture.
When you are ready to bake, fire up your grill to medium to high heat. (My grill has a thermometer on it so I aim for 400°F).
When your grill is hot enough, remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a 10-inch round that is ¼-inch thick. Transfer the dough onto a piece of heavy foil set on a flat baking sheet or pizza peel, which is a paddle-like tool. Using a sheet or peel makes transferring the galette to the grill easier.
Add the filling to the center of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border using a slotted spoon so you don’t get too much juice in the galette (the sugars in the juice will burn on the grill).
Fold over the edges of the dough. Fold up the sides of the foil to make a little wall around your galette to help contain the juices that will leak out when cooking.
Transfer your galette to the grill. Cover and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the dough is golden brown. You’ll want to check the galette after about 20 minutes to make sure the grill is hot enough and the galette is cooking evenly.
After it has finished baking, remove the galette and let cool at least 5 minutes before lifting it off the foil and slicing it. Serve warm or cooled to room temperature with a scoop of ice cream or vanilla yogurt.
