Last week, my roomie Disha and I visited the Butler’s Orchard in Germantown, MD.
We picked a whole bunch of gorgeous red raspberries….
Sweet plump yellow tomatoes…
Juliet tomatoes…
Basil leaves…
Mint leaves…
And a whole mass of donut peaches (sweetest and juiciest peaches we ever ate) and sugar pears along with some fresh grass-fed cow milk, red apple salsa, fig jam, fresh herb bread, white eggplants, okra and heirlooms.
And then we came home all crazy, excited and simply falling short for words of adoration at all the beautiful things that we picked.
For the longest time, I wanted to try making a galette — a flat, rustic-looking French tart. The galette pastry dough is usually made of plain flour and a whole lot of butter, similar to a tart pastry. Now, I haven’t tried making it that way just because a whole stick of butter in a dinner dish yielding two servings sounds scary. So I made a lighter and healthier version using wholewheat flour and olive oil. Surprisingly, the crust turned out perfect and crispy. Galettes can be sweet or savory. I made a savory one just because I needed to get my eyes off those pretty looking tomatoes before they rotted away.
Along with the tomatoes, I filled the galette with some asparagus pesto and homemade ricotta cheese that I flavored with garlic, chili and dried rosemary.
For the Galette crust:
150 grams – whole wheat flour
100 grams – plain flour
1 teaspoon – fine sea salt
1 teaspoon dried herbs (I used mixed italian herbs)
1/4 cup – olive oil
1/2 cup – cold water (I used the cold whey from my ricotta)
1) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2) Combine the flour, salt, and herbs in a medium mixing bowl. Add the oil and mix it in with a fork. Add the water, mix with the fork until it is absorbed, then knead lightly until the dough comes together into a ball. (I just used the kitchen aid stand mixer for this step).
3) Tightly cover the dough in plastic wrap and chill it for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
4) Turn the dough out on a lightly floured counter. Sprinkle a little flour on the ball of dough and roll it out into a large circle. Keep sprinkling little flour underneath and on the dough when it seems on the verge of sticking to the counter.
5) Transfer the dough carefully into the prepared pan.
For the Filling:
1 – egg white, lightly beaten
1/2 cup – asparagus pesto
1/3 cup – herbed homemade ricotta (I used the homemade ricotta and herbed it with 4 cloves minced garlic, 1 small dry red chili – crushed, 1 tsp dried herb – I used rosemary, 1/4 teaspoon salt)
A bunch of mixed tomatoes (I used a mix of green tomato, baby yellow tomatoes and heirlooms) – deseed them, slice them and then lay them on 3 layers of paper towel to absorb the excess liquids, else the galette will be soggy.
A couple leaves of fresh basil
1) Brush some egg white on the galette base.
2) Spread the pesto and ricotta. (Make sure to leave a 1″ border along the circle).
4) Arrange the sliced tomatoes and basil.
5) Start folding the border over the filling to seal the edge of the galette.
6) Brush the remaining egg white on the edge and bake the galette for about 25-28 minutes in a preheated oven (425 degrees F). It should be golden brown all over.
7) Cool sightly to let the filling set and then slice and serve.
Bon Appetit!! 🙂
