Stilton, Pear & Walnut Galette

It’s February 6th, and my month of paleo is officially over. How did I do?

I don’t know how much weight I lost because we don’t have a scale in our house, but my jacket zips up now when it didn’t before (well, not since I had Maeve). My pre-pregnancy jeans that I bought ages ago at Old Navy are feeling a bit LOOSE – last month, by comparison, I was barely able to squeeze into them. I don’t look in the mirror and notice a significant change, but I think by next month I might.

Yup, we’re going to make this an official lifestyle change. No bread, no grains or legumes, no refined flours or sugars will be allowed in our house. I still cheat a little – we’ve made tweaks to the paleo diet that work for us. Saturdays are fair game for whatever we want to eat, for example, and we’ll have a bottle of wine or a few beers on a Saturday as well. I still eat oats for breakfast. And I still bake regularly.

That’s my downfall, you see, because I don’t want to bake things that are paleo friendly. This is not a paleo blog. And I like to bring goodies when I meet up with my mommy friends that are indulgent and fun (although I do throw in a healthy muffin or two to the mix). That is when the majority of my cheating happens.

I don’t mind, though. I think those small cheats are a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of sugar, fat, grain and gluten I’ve given up and I have been feeling amazingly good lately. Like, healthy and full of energy. Pushing the buggy no longer tires me out. I’ve been walking home from downtown instead of taking the bus. I bought a new pair of sneakers (my first pair in over six years) and have forgotten how good it feels to walk in a comfortable pair of footwear.

So, we’re stickin’ with this lifestyle change even though I sometimes just want a sandwich for lunch.

Or this tart…

I mean, galette (getting fancy here).

What is a galette? Well, I’ve already said it. It’s basically a fancy tart. There are some differences in galettes depending on where you’re from (French galettes and French Canadian galettes are different, the former being more of a cake or buckwheat crepe and the latter, more of an open-faced, rustic tart) but I tend to stick with the basic shortcrust version. It’s a great tart to make with leftover fruit that’s about to go off if you have a bit of extra pastry hanging around.

I made this galette with pear (deliciously sweet and juicy pears are available right now), Stilton (which was on sale last week and looked too good to pass up) and walnuts – a classic combination. Combined with the flaky, slightly salty shortcrust pastry, it made cheating on my diet totally worth it.

Stilton, Pear & Walnut Galette

Ingredients:

1 recipe shortcrust pastry (you can find my recipe here)

3 ripe pears (any type will do)

250 grams whole or roughly chopped walnuts

125 grams Stilton, or any good quality blue cheese

1 egg, lightly mixed

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 425 degrees (210 degrees Celsius, no fan)
• Line a baking tray with parchment
• Roll out shortcrust pastry to about 1/8 of an inch thickness and roll into a rough circular shape (if you want neat lines, use a pizza cutter to make a proper circle by cutting the rough edges)
• Transfer the pastry circle to the lined baking tray
• Peel and slice the pear, then spread the pieces out over the pastry (leaving about 1 1/2 inches at the edges, for folding)
• Crumble the blue cheese over the pear slices, then top with the walnuts
• Take the pastry edges and fold up and over the filling, making a raised edge. The majority of the filling will remain uncovered
• Mix one egg in a bowl and lightly brush the egg over the crust
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is browned and bubbly
• Serve warm with a side salad (also makes a great dessert)