Starter Snack for Holiday Dining

Some of you will probably be busy in the coming days preparing food for Thanksgiving. One thing I find helpful when working in the kitchen is to keep the wine flowing and have something to snack on.

Easy-to-make savory baked goods are always a good bet. To me, nothing is easier than using frozen puff pastry and creating a galette. Full disclosure: I don’t know anything about what makes an authentic French galette—the circular rustic pastry dish. I just know that all you do is fold over the edge of a circular puff pastry and you’re good to go.

I’ve seen savory and sweet galettes (the sweet ones are often made with some kind of jam base). My recipe below is a mix of sweet and savory, which I think is always good as a bite before dinner. The sweet comes from the fresh autumnal pears (I used red pears I got at my grocer) and the savory from the ham (you could be fancy and use pancetta or jamon but I’m on a budget these days so I just used your basic American-style cooked ham) and blue cheese, in this case gorgonzola.

Making a galette is so easy because you just prep the ingredients, throw them all on the puff pastry, pop it in the oven and you have a fancy looking starter in minutes. (I have to say, my galette’s edges ended up looking loose because I had folded over the edges in a pretty pattern and then realized I should have added the cheese, so I had to unfold it and fold it back, that’s why it looks the way it does.) Serve this up for guests who arrive early or just eat it for yourself while you’re slaving away in the kitchen. You deserve it!

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