The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord - and a Galette des Rois recipe.

Happy 2021!

In line with the French tradition of eating a Galette des Rois (King’s cake) all of January, I am writing a short post about the Epiphany of the Lord and our family’s recipe for Galette this year. As a family with the French and Peruvian culinary traditions, we love cooking and making “Patisseries”. On a momentous day like today when unity, respect and love as “willing the good of the other” as Bishop Barron puts it, is celebrated, we can all do with a little yummy cake.

Cooking is a big part of both cultures and it is now that we are Catholics that we can fully appreciate the cooking for different feasts that is part of the fabric of the French culture. We have discussed many times how the French culture has a lot of feasts and culinary traditions deeply rooted in the Catholic Faith, but a big part of the population doesn’t make the link to the origins of the celebrations.

I have to say that prior to our full conversion to the Catholic faith, the Christmas celebrations had started to feel empty. I was growing weary of the commercialization of Christmas, and even though we worked hard to keep the story of Santa alive for our older daughter until she was around 7, deep inside me the celebration didn’t really make sense. I didn’t feel whole, like part of my integrity as a person was missing.

Since we embraced the Catholic Faith with the true meaning of the traditions, we can really appreciate the origins and the beauty of the religious feasts. We have started introducing the idea to the kids that gifts will arrive maybe at a different time (either for St Nicolas, early December, or with the Kings) because the point of Christmas is to celebrate Jesus being born, not receiving gifts. And yes, giving love as part of the immense love that God has for us.

An added bonus to celebrating a Catholic Feast is the fun of cooking together as a family and the opportunity to discuss Jesus’ teachings and link it to our behavior as individuals and even current events. There has been a lot to discuss in the last few weeks. The part of the beautiful story of 3 magi that I like to emphasize is how, even though they were not religious, they let themselves be guided by the star. We can all let ourselves be guided by God to respect and love our neighbor, with gratefulness and be always willing to lend a hand. Following the example of the 3 magi, we can all come together, especially if we are different, in search of God’s truth. And yes, we can all dream together.

I feel that on this special day, God is even more present in our country and in the world, as if saying “I have not abandoned you”. Without further due, here is our Galette des Rois recipe, inspired by the French site Marmiton. Disclaimer: we were inventive and included raspberries in the recipe, which made my husband raise his eyebrows but he ultimately agreed that it was delicious. If you don’t feel adventurous enough to make your own Galette and live in San Francisco, you can still preorder one from La Boulangerie (they are so yummy). Enjoy!

"Galette des Rois" with Almond and Raspberry Frangipane (almond cream / paste)

Ingredients:

• 2 puff pastry doughs for the bottom and top of the galette (in San Francisco you can find them at Whole Foods)

• 140 grams of almond flour

• 130 grams of sugar

• 3 eggs

• 110 grams of butter, softened

• 1 egg yolk mixed with a little water

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 350 grams of frozen raspberries

• 10 cl of water

• 60gr of sugar

• 1tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven at around 400 degrees fahrenheit (roughly 200 degrees celsius). Mix the almond powder with the 130 grams of sugar, the 3 eggs and the softened butter. Add the vanilla extract. In a pan, mix the frozen raspberries with the water and the sugar, bring to a boil to make like a syrup, for about 5-10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the 1 tbsp powdered sugar. Sift to get rid of the seeds. Take about one fifth of the almond preparation, and mix it with the raspberry syrup. In either a large pie dish or a flat baking sheet, put your bottom puff pastry. Add the vanilla almond mix, and on top layer the raspberry almond mix with a decorating bag for neatness. Add a little water to the edges of the bottom puff pastry dough to glue the top. Cover with the second puff pastry dough and press to the edges of the bottom layer. Finalize with painting the egg yolk to give it a nice shine when it bakes. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the top is a little brown. Serves 8.

The tradition in France includes the funny part that the kids love which is hiding a little token or “fève” and the person who gets it (everyone has to chew carefully!) is crowned the king. In our family the youngest kid goes under the table to say who gets each galette part. Have fun and enjoy!