Dan, the wine editor, has a new post up in his column Uncorked and Decanted. It’s titled “I Like Screwtops.” I bet you didn’t know wine came in screwtop bottles. I didn’t either, until he introduced me to this very selection–Big House’s Prodigal Son–during a recent visit. Learn more by clicking the permalink, or hit Uncorked and Decanted in the header bar and browse more of Dan’s awesome wine tips.

Anything that involves pastry intimidates me, but this recipe looked so tasty, I (temporarily) forgot my fears, and added it to my list for May’s Project Food Blog Cook-Off. Last Friday, I bought all of the ingredients and returned home excited to make my first ever galette. (What is a galette, you ask. Food Blogga explains. Visit her site. Link below.) I started with the pastry dough. I’ve made enough of it now that I don’t panic, but the process is still a source of anxiety. Will the butter cut in? Will I have enough ice water? Will I make a gluey mess? Luckily, the dough turned out fine, and I didn’t have any problems. I divided it in two, put each in plastic wrap, flattened them into disks. So far, so good. My problem came when I went to make the galette. The recipe says to roll the dough into a 12 inch round. But I had two disks! There was no top and bottom. Just one round. So why two? Honestly, I still don’t know. I joined the two, rolled them out, and made one galette. But see. This is why pastry freaks me out. I should know why the dough is divided. I should, but I don’t. Sigh.

The goodies that go inside the galette I can handle. Sausage, fennel, smoked cheese. Mmmm. And then there are the sundried tomatoes. I absolutely love this touch. I think I’ll add a few more the next time around. The fennel was surprisingly benign. I’ve had fennel in dishes where all you can taste is the fennel. I swore off fennel for a while after that. But here, it works just fine. The presentation is beautiful, too. I made this for supper, but I could easily imagine it for an elegant brunch.

Visit Food Blogga and get her recipe for Savory Sausage and Fennel Galette. Link here.