Lazy summer days

There were days, and there were days, as Jerry Garcia said.  Days when you have a lot of time to fill and are itching to tackle a big project in the kitchen.  Other days when you're feeling pretty lazy, maybe more interested in eating dessert than preparing it.  I was having one of those days recently, and made this galette.  

A galette is a sort of free-form tart:  you lay the pasty out, pile the filling in the middle, wrap the edges up, and bake.  There's not much technique involved, so it really relies on wonderful ingredients.  If you have puff pastry in your freezer and a some ripe fruit, you're in business.  

Not only is this galette extremely easy to make, it also looks spectacular enough for a dinner party, and tastes wonderful.  The contrast of syrupy fruit, crisp flaky pastry, and maybe a scoop of ice cream on this side is just sensational.  

I hope you make this soon.  And enjoy the days that lie between.

Notes

Unlike many of the recipes I post, this one is not gluten-free.  If you can find (or have the energy to make) gluten-free puff pastry, you can make a gluten-free version of this.  

I used half a box of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry for this recipe.  

I made this with fresh peaches and blueberries, but feel free to change up the fruit depending on what is in season.  I added the blueberries to give a little color contrast, and because I happened to have them.  Blackberries (halved if they are large) would also be good.  Nectarines instead of peaches is another obvious switch.  

I didn't try to remove the galette from the pan before serving, and I wasn't sure I could get it out neatly and in one piece.  So I just cooled and served it from the pan itself.  

Inspiration

This recipe is a mash-up of two different dishes:  a savory galette I once made, and the "Rustic Summer Fruit Tart" in Cook It In Cast Iron from America's Test Kitchen.  I've never seen puff pasty cooked in a cast-iron pan: as it turns out, it works great.  The cast iron keeps the pastry crisp, and the shape of the pan keeps any the fruit juices right inside where they belong.  

The name of this recipe is a reference to the character Clarissa Mao from The Expanse.  For complicated reasons, her nickname is "Peaches".