Galette, gavotte

After a long food discussion at Thanksgiving, Danger Baby and his wife sent me a Trader Joe's gift card and the I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook by Cherie Mercer Twohy for Christmas. I went on a fantasy fill-your-cart shopping trip to fuel a winter Big Cook, but not after reading the cookbook. So, when I did start marking recipes with colorful sticky arrows I had the inspirations, but not all the ingredients. And the first inspiration was the asparagus tart on page 24. Had the fresh asparagus from Trader Joe's and 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Two out of seven ingredients! We have a winner.

You sigh. You roll your eyes. Have I ever had all the ingredients? Have I ever followed the directions?

I love cooking with Google. Type in the items I have, and, voilà, recipes appear. They may not be tested recipes, but I won't follow them anyway. 

Asparagus + crust + cheese....   

Wait! Asparagus + refrigerator piecrust dough + Parmesan cheese + mushrooms + Meyer lemon + garlic + spinach ...BINGO!

Google results were for asparagus galettes. Galettes seem to be unfettered savory or sweet pastries made without a confining pie pan. How did I not know about this ridiculously easy way to make a supper or brunch? I wanted to dance a gavotte!

galette--a flat round cake of pastry or bread

gavotte--a medium-paced French dance, popular in the 18th century;  a piece of music accompanying or in the rhythm of a gavotte, composed in common time beginning on the third beat of the bar.

https://www.britannica.com/art/gavotte

With a full tummy I drifted off into a happy dream of an earlier trickle-down era, the early '80s in Omaha. Upon awakening I couldn't remember the name of a favorite ladies' lunch destination beloved by my mom after discovery by  my Welcome Wagon club. The restaurant was done in lovely pinks and corals with white trim and not-annoying paintings hanging on the walls. Best of all was the dessert counter visited after soup-salad-sandwich with its amazing rich cakes. The restaurant was probably on the south side of Center Street, maybe Pacific, a little east of District 66. Fritzi's favorite cake was a ga- ga- ga- something with apricots. It took about an hour of searching to find the word "gateau," and I never did find the name of the restaurant (I am embarrassed to admit this failure):

gateau--a rich cake, typically one containing layers of cream or fruit.

Stumbling around in rich French desserts I got side-tracked by garrote. (This is not a French carrot cake.) The first time I read of murder by garrote was in Margaret Truman's Murder in the White House. Donald Bain, who died in October, ghostwrote some of Truman's mysteries, but not that one.

garrote--kill someone by strangulation, typically with a length of wire or cord.

But what of Marat? Did he die by garrote? He did not.

Mystery readers mourn the loss of Sue Grafton today. While I only made it to "N is for..." I always wanted Kinsey's shipshape apartment and elderly neighbors.

Thanks to Donna Leon and Louise Penny for another year of thoughtful, well-written mysteries.

© 2013-2017 Nancy L. Ruder