Saturday, January 06, 2007

La Galette des Rois

French Tradition
French traidition for celebrating the epiphany Kings Cake or Galette des Rois a frangipane pastry containing a feve. Whoever gets it in their slice becomes king for the day
Just in case you think I am cheating on #10 of my 2007 resolutions, I would like to point out that this is not a post, it is just a photograph of a Galette de Rois I cobbled together for a friend's potluck this evening. I had to post leave it up on my blog today, January 6th, else it wouldn't have been topical, would it? Fred, no doubt, will be hiding under the table just like Clotilde does, later tonight...



PS I hope no one breaks a tooth on the ceramic pie weight I hid in the pie. It's a small price to pay to be King for a day anyway, so no complaining.

Cheats all-butter organic, puff pastry from French Picnic at Wholefoods, SoMa, SF.
Almonds for Frangipane filling from Alfieri Farms

Archives
2006 | Fiji: Tagi & her Golden Recipe
2005 | English, French & Californian Cheeseboard, Vin Jaune, Savoury Rosemary Cookies

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La Galette des Rois

2:44 PM  

13 Comments:

  • At 6/1/07 16:20, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What a lovely tradition

     

  • At 6/1/07 16:21, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I didn't get an opportunity to wish you "Happy New Year" in your last post, so I now want to wish you and Mr. Becks & Posh a wonderful new year! Also, get cracking on that "About" page pronto! Can't wait to reap the benefits of you trying a new recipe each week--meaning, reaping the benefits by seeing the final product on the blog! I hope to read much more in 2007!

     

  • At 6/1/07 18:51, Blogger Rachael Narins said…

    That is one glam cake! Indeed fit for a Queen. (Or King. Or three of them...)

     

  • At 6/1/07 19:35, Blogger Anita (Married... with dinner) said…

    Mmm, j'aime les gallettes.

    I made one once, years ago, for my French teacher (who was very homesick for France that year). All the effort was worth it to see her face when I opened the box.

    It wasn't half as beautiful as yours, though. Stunning.

     

  • At 7/1/07 02:44, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Your galette is stunning, really beautiful! Worth breaking your resolutions for!

     

  • At 7/1/07 06:27, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What a gorgeous looking galette!! I hope nobody ended up going to the dentist from an encounter with the weight...but I think it might be kind of worth it!

     

  • At 7/1/07 08:16, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Cobbled together?! That is a work of art!

     

  • At 7/1/07 10:57, Blogger Sam said…

    mum - i am not sure you would like it - the inside has almonds and is therefore 'marzipanish', it went down a storm at the pot luck though it had to be divided by 17 so we didnt get too much!

    passionate eater - thank you! I am working hard on the about page but it is taking for ever and I am sure I am forgetting things I need to say - but I can always add them later.

    andrew - thankfully someone found my ceramic pie weight. All teeth in tact. I read your jam tart post and I did not know that so I learnt something.

    Rachael - and it is SO EASY if you cheat and buy the pastry!

    Anita - since i didnt bother to make the pastry I could afford to spend 5 minutes cutting the pattern in. Thing is it looks more impressive than it really is. Piece of cake to make, really.

    Julie - I agree, and arent resolutions made to be broken anyway?

    ellie- luckily no dentist - they were all warned. I did get a complaint from someone about the fact I left the pits in the olives in my chicken dish though. You can never please everyone.

    ivonne - seriously - this is a totally cobbled together kind of dessert. I can't begin to tell you how easy it is! especially if you cheat and buy the pastry. That was the key to my success, I think.

     

  • At 7/1/07 11:16, Blogger Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said…

    What a beautiful King Cake! I'm used to the Mardi Gras ones, with purple and green icing. This is so much nicer, and it looks yummy, too.

     

  • At 7/1/07 21:51, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Huh... Didn't the "King/Queen for a Day" end up getting sacrificed in olden times? At the very least, we always made him/her do all the cleaning up.

    - Chubbypanda

     

  • At 7/1/07 21:52, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Huh... Didn't the "King/Queen for a Day" end up getting sacrificed in olden times? At the very least, we always made him/her do all the cleaning up when we hid something in pie. =D

    - Chubbypanda

     

  • At 8/1/07 10:29, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Oh my -- I tried to make one like that last year and let's just say it wasn't quite as visually stunning. But tasty nonetheless! We are in our Mardi Gras season ourselves (a group of friends has been celebrating locally for almost 20 years) and so a king cake post is fairly inevitable over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

     

  • At 1/6/08 14:23, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    that looks yummy!!

     

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