Growing up in California, I had no idea of the sour power of rhubarb in desserts. I had no idea what rhubarb even looked like. But now that I know, I never want to live without it. Especially rhubarb paired with almond paste. Oh, baby.
This was my first time purchasing rhubarb and almond paste, and I needed help finding both. Almond paste was tucked away in a tiny box in the dessert aisle next to the sweetened condensed milk. Rhubarb was tucked away in the vegetable section because, surprise!, it’s a vegetable. It looks like extra long, red celery, and I bought 2.5 pounds of it, just like Alison told me to.
To make the galette, I first prepared the pie crust, which instead of using Alison’s The Only Piecrust, I made another disk of King Arthur’s gluten free pie crust. I was much more confident this time, thanks to coaching from Margaret for the Buttered Raspberry Hand Pies. I also gained assurance from the fact that galettes don’t need to look perfect – they can be misshapen and have craggy edges and no one will care, least of all me.
While the pie crust chilled in the fridge, I cleaned and sliced the rhubarb into thinner 4” to 6” pieces. Two and a half pounds of rhubarb is a lot of rhubarb, so this took a bit of time.
I rolled out the pie crust as far as I could without letting cracks form – about a 12” by 14” cir-rectangle (I made that up). Taking chunks of almond paste, I flattened them to thin disks in my hands (it got a bit sticky!) and arranged them to cover the dough with a 2” border on all sides. Then I laid out the rhubarb… about two-fifths of it actually. I have no idea how Alison can fit all that rhubarb into one galette, but I could hardly fit a pound. I’ve still got the remaining rhubarb in my fridge, which will likely become a cake soon. Or jam.
I folded the pie crust edges over the galette and sprinkled the top with sugar. Once again, I used less than the recipe called for – a fourth cup instead of a third.
The rhubarb galette was the perfect balance of tart and sweet. A fresher, butterier take on a sour patch kid, if you ask me. I can’t wait for next year’s rhubarb season.
This dessert accompanied other Alison recipes for another All-Out Alison meal:
Grilled Artichokes with Preserved Lemon Yogurt (Side)
Grilled Branzino with Lemons All of the Ways (Entrée)
Rhubarb Almond Galette (Dessert)
Served with a side salad and roasted potatoes
100 recipes cooked, 125 to go.
