Last winter as I sat chatting about books and writing and life in my friend’s cozy kitchen, I watched her hands (always busy) smooth out a dessert with pie crust and apples, my offers of help shrugged away with an “almost done” look. It was simple and delicious and in the oven before I realized what was happening. As with most of her meals, I tucked the idea away to try later, though “later” so often gets away from one.

But the other day as I stared at some questionable-looking blueberries and a rapidly fading apple in my fridge – neither of which eating raw appealed to me – I remembered my friend’s galette and whipped out the rolling pin.

The dough is easy – just a simple pie dough recipe: 2 1/2 c flour, 1 stick of butter, a dash of salt, and 6 T water. I rolled the dough, sprinkling it with a bit of sugar, and chopped up the apple into thin slices to layer with blueberries in the center, leaving an inch from the edge.

I scattered a few chunks of butter over it to melt in and sprinkled it all with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Then I folded the edges over the fruit as far as they would go and baked it for 20 min at 400 degrees. It was delicious and roommate-approved.

The following day, an unplanned trip to the farmer’s market left me wondering what to do with all that veggie goodness.

The galette was so good, I decided to make a savory one. This time I chopped the zucchini into thin slices, along with tomatoes, onions and garlic cloves. I tossed it all with a bit of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper before spreading it over the rolled out dough.

After baking for 15 min, I took the galette out and topped with shredded cheese (I only had cheddar on hand, but crumbled feta would have been perfect), before baking another 5 min. So good!

What recipes have inspired you to get creative?