Sunday, June 9

Sage Flowers in June


The sage blooms in May.  Year after year, like the eternal clock of the universe . . . invariably, the sage blooms in May.  Brilliant white stalks reaching skyward through dense and dusty leaves toward the leaden May rain clouds.  However, as with all of life's familiar and comforting rhythms, that gentle cadence on which we come to rely, the sage bloom was delayed by a hard and very long winter.  It's June now, and the blossoms in my garden are just beginning to open, reaching, this year, toward the brilliant summer sun.  Perhaps because of the icy winter which nearly killed my humble sage, or perhaps because of the heat which bakes the flowers through the long afternoon, the blossoms are especially sweet this year.  Like floral honey, they burst in your mouth, an unexpected surprise from a plant that's known for its earthy, musty aromas.  I savour the days when the sage is in bloom, as it signals the start of summer.


What a happy coincidence that the sage is blooming just as peach season begins!  For this reason I felt compelled to combine the two in a crisp and rustic galette.  As I toyed with the recipe in my mind, I debated sweetening it with agave nectar, brown sugar, or most desperately, honey.  But, as I tested combinations I was reminded of these famous words:  In the grand opera of cooking, sage represents an easily offended and capricious prima donna.  It likes to have the stage almost to itself.  Therefore, I decided to keep the flavors simple, let the prima donna shine like the sun in June.


I, however, couldn't get the thought of honey out of my mind.  Like a song stuck in your head until you can stand it no longer and belt out the words at the top of your lungs, just to get some relief.   It haunted me.  I had to use honey somewhere, the delicate sweetness of the sage flowers required it.  I decided to make a honey sweetened mascarpone cream to top it off (Merci to Mimi Thorisson of Manger and this ethereal post for giving me the idea!).  The perfect compliment.




If you don't happen to have a sage plant in full bloom growing in your back garden, don't worry, you can certainly make the peach galette without it, and it will still be absolutely decadent in its simplicity.  Just be sure to make the mascarpone cream.  It's the icing on the cake, so to speak, and I promise, you'll never make whipped cream the same again.


Peach and Sage Flower Galette

for the galette dough:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp fine salt
10 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
1/3 cup ice water

for the filling:
4 organic peaches, sliced
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
the flowers from 2-3 stalks of sage (approx. 20 - 22 flowers)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon coarse turbinado sugar

for the cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1 Tablespoon honey

Make the dough by combining the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Using a pastry blender (or working quickly with your hands), cut the cold butter into the flour until it's the size of small peas.  Mix in the water a few teaspoonfuls at a time until the dough just starts to come together.   Turn it out onto a clean, floured surface.  Using the heel of your hand push sections of the dough across the board, smearing the butter into the flour.  This technique is called frissage, and is used to create thin layers of butter running throughout the dough, which makes for a flaky crust.  Gather the dough into a ball and frissage again until the dough just comes together.  Pat the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate for one hour.

Meanwhile, clean your sage flowers by filling a large bowl with water and swishing the flower stalks vigorously in the water.  This cleans off any dirt and excess pollen, as well as dislodges any insects that may be hiding in the flowers.  Lay the flowers on paper towels to dry.  Pull the flowers from the stem, and remove the stamen and pistil from inside the bloom (this further removes pollen that could possibly cause an allergic reaction in some people). 

After the dough has been in the refrigerator for one hour, preheat your oven to 400 F (200 C).  Combine the sliced peaches, sugar and cornstarch.  Roll out the dough into a 12 inch round on a piece of large parchment paper.  Carefully transfer the dough and the parchment paper to a baking sheet.  Scatter the sage flowers on the dough, and arrange the peaches in a neat circle over the flowers leaving a 1.5 inch border.  Pour the remaining juice over top. (I draw an outline in the shape of a circle on the dough with my fingernail to make sure I arrange the peaches evenly.)  Fold the edges of the dough up around the peaches crimping it every few inches.  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and brush the edges of the galette.  Sprinkle the edges with coarse turbinado sugar.  Dot the peaches with the remaining tablespoon of butter.  Bake in the preheated oven for 45 - 50 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature with honey-mascarpone cream.

To make the cream, place the heavy cream, mascarpone and honey in a cold bowl and beat until soft peaks form.  Serves 8






22 comments:

  1. Sage is my favorite flavorful flower of all time! It adds such an aroma to food, its amazing! I spend a hefty amount of money to grow it in my garden, so this recipe is perfect for me! Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Flower shops normally have sprouting azaleas, mums, gloxinias and cyclamen that give a lovely and splendid burst of shading. You can pot these plants in an assortment of holders. Florist in Dasua India

    ReplyDelete
  3. CBD oil has even been used to safely treat insomnia and anxiety in children with post-traumatic stress disorder. https://royalcbd.com/product/cbd-oil-1000mg/

    ReplyDelete
  4. This blog. This excellence. Something to go over again and again?
    HobbyPlants

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rose is the official Birthday blossom for the long stretch of June and you should present a lot of some new sliced roses to the person who is conceived in the period of June. https://www.floraindia.com/flower-delivery/chandigarh.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your good knowledge and kindness in playing with all the pieces was very useful. I don’t know what I would have done if I had not encountered such a step like this
    hemp flower

    ReplyDelete
  7. Then again, this can be connected into different frameworks by which programmed move can be made to take conditions back to the ideal level, for example, consequently turning air cooling or separating frameworks on. park wilshire condos

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such a very useful article. Very interesting to read this article.I would like to thank you for the efforts you had made for writing this awesome article. florarie cluj

    ReplyDelete
  9. thanks for the recepie, such a infomative blog :) if you want to send Online Flower Delivery to india then Interflora India is the bestt florist in India.

    ReplyDelete
  10. There are many great mesos-making quests inside MapleStory that can make you more mesos than some of the other quests.  https://www.pinksbypost.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  11. It will be superior, on the contrary appraise the material in such a legitimate. florarie cluj

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello, extraordinary blog, yet I don't see how to include your webpage in my rss peruser. Would you be able to Help me please? Florisis cluj

    ReplyDelete
  13. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work... florisis

    ReplyDelete
  14. In addition to white, pink is one of the most popular colors for wedding flower arrangements. After all, pink is a color of softness, serenity, romance and pure love.  https://www.pinksbypost.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nice site. Keep up the great work video game stores near me

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love seeing this in here and would like to read more! Fraud Litigation

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your blog gave us significant data to work with. Each and each tip of your post are marvelous. Much obliged for sharing. Continue to blog. blog here

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a charming post! I'm so happy to figure out this. What you created was incredibly helpful to me. Thankful to you. In light of everything, I run a site like you. If you have time, might you sooner or later visit my site? Assuming no one minds, leave your comments resulting to scrutinizing my message. If you do in that capacity, I will successfully reflect your point of view. I figure it will be an unprecedented help to run my site read here

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks again for the blog article. Much thanks again. Awesome.
    loose flower petals shop

    ReplyDelete
  20. Really appreciate you sharing this post. Really thank you! Want more.
    get budget flowers

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very much appreciated. Thanks for sharing this kind of information. Fence Company

    ReplyDelete
  22. The smell of flowers, combined with their air-purifying properties, pursue them a superb decision for enlivening homes.
    Toowoomba Florist

    ReplyDelete