I'm all about the veggies at the moment. It's just *insert tense tasty noise here*. I LOVE eating veg in the summer. Whether they're raw or cooked, eating them just seems to be perfect. More so than in the winter, ironically, which is when we typically need to eat more veg. For all the vitamins we lack of course. And SAD syndrome.
Anyway, I digress. I have a few friends who are vegetarian and sometimes I think I keep making them the same thing over again - the same pasta dish, the same vegetable tart, the same risotto. But this spring, every food blogger seemed to want to show their pastry skill and make a galette. Some sweet, some savoury, all absolutely to die for. I mean if I could gobble up a picture then I would have had galette every day for about a month.
I mean, what's not to like? It's got beautiful pastry, be it sweet or savoury, and a filling so succulent in either its sweetness or savouriness (it's a word) that one slice will have you begging for more or completely undo you with it's deliciousness - depends on the size of a slice.
One evening recently, we had a friar friend of ours round for dinner and I made Deb Perelman's Pork Chops with apple and cider deliciousness. But I had no side dish planned. I didn't want to do my favourite roast potatoes because said friend had already had them (constant dilemma) so, a season too late, I jumped on the galette bandwagon. I don't regret it, it was tasty. This recipe can work as a side for up to 6 people, paired with something "meaty", or it can serve 3-4 as the main event.
Roast Vegetable and Parmesan Galette
2 courgettes, thinly sliced
2 red peppers, sliced
1 red onion, quartered and layers separated
70g parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
For the pastry:
280g plain flour
140g cold butter
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
8 tbsp cold water
Preheat an oven to180 degrees C. Lay out the vegetables on a baking tray and drizzle over a little olive oil. Sprinkle over a pinch of salt and pepper and massage everything together. Put the veg in the oven for 20 minutes. Remember they will also cook in the tart.
In a bowl, rub together the flour, butter, salt and pepper until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Ad the water and bring everything together in the bowl. Form it into a ball and wrap the ball in cling film, leaving it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Place a baking sheet in the oven to warm up. After the half hour, roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it's about 35cm in diameter. Sprinkle over half of the parmesan cheese. Pile all the vegetables in the middle of the pastry, spreading them out ever so slightly to make a flat top.
Fold the edges of the pastry over the edges of the filling so that it's contained but mostly exposed. Lightly flour the baking sheet that was in the oven and slide the tart onto the tray. Brush the exposed pastry with the beaten egg and place the tart into the oven for 30 minutes or until it is golden brown.
Slide it onto a wire rack to cool slightly or onto a chopping board to serve immediately. Sprinkle over the rest of the parmesan to serve.