Now that summer is in full swing as well as all the local farmers markets I have an abundance of fresh zucchini. Obviously I will be making homemade zucchini bread but a girl can only make so many loaves! I like to try different things when cooking dinner for my family so instead of throwing some zucchini on the grill or roasting it I decided to make a galette! A Galette is basically a term used in French cuisine for a free formed crusty cake or pie. It can be sweet or savory. I went with savory in this case and served it as a side item to my roasted pork tenderloin. There is just something about making a dish from scratch that I just crave. Starting with making the dough, letting it rest, and then rolling it out and filling it with fresh vegetables, herbs, and grated Gruyere. It sounds like it's a lot of work but actually it only takes about 35 minutes for this dish to come together and it's totally worth it. The flaky crust combined with warm savory zucchini and herbs all topped with melted cheese well you just can't go wrong with that! It was a hit around this house and my kids loved it! They got a full helping of vegetables without even realizing it!
The great thing about a galette is that you can fill the pastry with any flavor you like, so if you don't like zucchini then you can use another vegetable or you can go sweet and fill it with fresh peach's and strawberries or apples and onions! Make it your own that is the whole point of cooking!
The key to the galette is the dough, so we will start with that. It's actually your most basic dough in baking all you need is flour, salt, and cold butter! Here's how you make it:
1 1/4 cups AP Flour
1 stick cold butter cubed
1 egg beaten
pinch of salt
ice water
Place your flour in a food processor along with a pinch of salt. Pulse the food processor a couple times to combine. Add your cold butter a few cubes at a time. (Make sure you use cold butter) continue to pulse while you add all your butter. Once your butter is added the dough should start to come together. You want the dough to be flaky almost like a corn meal consistency. Just continue to pulse the dough until it just starts to form. Take off the lid and grab some with your hand and if the dough comes together in your hand like a snow ball then it's ready. If it seems to dry that's when you can add about a tablespoon of your ice water. Once your dough comes together take it out of your food processor and on to your counter top. Knead the dough just enough for it to all come together and form a ball. Flatten the dough into a disc like shape and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 min.
While your dough is resting get all of your other ingredients ready. Slice your zucchini in long strips. If you have a large zucchini then you can cut in half then slice each half. Place your sliced zucchini in a bowl. I also added fresh kumato tomato's for some acidity and I just love roasted tomato's. I used 2 tomato's and sliced them also. Add your tomato's to the bowl with the zucchini and season them with salt and pepper. Add in about a tablespoon of fresh thyme and about 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Next grate your Gruyere cheese. You can find Gruyere in the specialty cheese section of your local grocery store. If you can't find it you can always substitute with Swiss cheese. Toss half of the grated cheese in with the vegetable mixture. Once 30 minutes is up grab your dough and roll it out.
Flour your work space so the dough doesn't stick. You will want to work quickly because you don't want the butter to get to warm in the dough. The best way to roll out dough is to place your rolling pin in the center of the dough and roll out towards the ends then turn the dough counterclockwise and repeat with the rolling pin. Continuing to turn the dough in between each roll. This will give you a nice large circle. You want your dough to be about 1/4 inch thick. Once you have rolled out your dough start to layer your vegetables in the center leaving a 1 inch rim of dough on the edges. When all your vegetables are layered fold your edge up and around the filling, like so.
Brush your edges with the beaten egg and top off the vegetables with the rest of your grated Gruyere cheese.
That's it bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until your crust is golden brown and the center is nice and bubbly!
Your summer zucchini galette! YUM!
Remember the filling is up to you so have fun and get creative in your own kitchen! Thats the whole point of cookin!!!!
Happy Eatings!
