Galette of Late Summer Vegetables with Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream Recipe
Melissa
Clark is one of my all-time favorite recipe makers. I look forward to her
weekly columns in the Times one of which is called
“A Good Appetite”. I sometimes think it
also be called “Playing with Your Food” because Melissa treats her readers to
any number of machinations and generally allows her followers free reign with
her recipes. And that’s exactly what I
did with a recent foray Melissa took us on into the world of the galette.
A galette and its Italian
cousin the crostata are free-form
pastries that require no pie plate or tart pan. Instead dough is rolled out
flat in something approaching a round shape, the filling is loaded on top and
the edges of the dough are folded over the filling. It’s completely undemanding and if filling
oozes out of the side that’s all chocked up to the rustic charms of this
particular offering. Real butter is
must when making the pastry and using the best filling you can find will turn
out a gloriously golden dish that even the most novice baker can be proud
of. Andrew has shared his share of galettes and a superb crostata which you can find using the
search function on the left side of this page.
But this would be our first savory version of the dish. But I seemed to remember that pleasure of
these was greatly increased when topped with a scoop of ice cream. So when he and I made this one, I couldn’t
help but wonder if that wouldn’t also be true here. So I made Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream to top off
our dish. But first we made the galette.
Melissa
Clark had pointed out that once get the hang of it, you can basically write
your own recipe. Whatever fruit is in season, and in this case, whatever
leftover vegetables you have or whatever you found irresistible at the Farmer’s
market can be pressed into use here.
We’d made a stew of onions, red peppers and fennel that filled the
leftover requirement. To that we added
eggplant, summer squash and zucchini, and plum tomatoes all of which we roasted
while the whole wheat crust rested in the fridge. Melissa called for goat cheese, never a huge
hit with Andrew and so we substituted a round of Boursin. The dish also got a hit of heat with the
addition of some hot chile peppers. Into
the oven it went and presto! We served
it with a salad for a light meatless meal.
On day two, I added a scoop of freshly made Cheddar cheese ice cream the
recipe for which, follows. But don’t let the lack of ice cream stop you from
making the galette. It will please you
all by itself. Here is the recipe:
Recipe for Late Summer Vegetable Galette Takes 2
hours to prepare plus 90 minutes for the pastry to rest (or make the pastry the
night before and roll it out the day you make the galette). Serves 8.
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into big
pieces
- ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
- (optional)
- 2 medium eggplant (about 1 pound),
- trimmed and thinly sliced
- 2 medium zucchini (about 3/4 pound),
- trimmed and thinly sliced
- 2 medium summer squash (about ¾
- pound) trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1 pound plum tomatoes, cored and
- thinly sliced
- Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
- 2 hot chile peppers, such as cherry
- peppers, seeded and minced
- 5 ounces goat or Boursin cheese,
- softened
- 1 small garlic clove, grated or
- pressed
- 1.In a food processor fitted with a
- steel blade, or in a large bowl, pulse or mix together the flours, sugar, and
- salt. In a measuring cup, lightly beat the egg, then add just enough cream to
- get to 1/3 cup. Lightly whisk the egg and cream together.
- 2. Add butter to flour mixture and pulse
- or use a pastry cutter or your fingers to break up the butter. If using a food
- processor, do not over-process; you need chickpea-size chunks of butter.
- Drizzle the egg mixture (up to 1/4 cup) over the dough and pulse or stir until
- it just starts to come together but is still mostly large crumbs. Mix in lemon
juice and zest if using.
3. Put the dough on lightly floured
counter and knead to make one uniform piece. Flatten into a disk, wrap in
plastic and chill for 9 mins., or up to 3 days.
4. When you are ready to make the
tart, roll out dough to a 12-inch round (it can be ragged).
5. Transfer to a
rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill while preparing the
filling.
6. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spread
out eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes in one layer on three separate sheet pans
or cookie sheets. Drizzle generously with oil
and season with salt and pepper. Roast vegetables, tossing zucchini and
eggplant occasionally, 35 to 40 minutes. Eggplant and tomatoes will be golden
at the edges; zucchini will be tender.
7. Decrease oven temperature to 400 degrees. In a small bowl,
combine cheese, garlic and thyme leaves. Spread mixture in a thin layer
over crust, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border all around.
8. Arrange vegetables evenly
over goat cheese. Fold up edges of crust, pleating to hold it in (sloppy is
fine). Brush pastry generously with leftover egg and cream mixture.
9. Transfer
galette to oven and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cool on a wire
rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Now about that Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream…
If
nothing else, this will be a true conversation starter when you appear with
what looks for all the world like dessert.
I must confess
that
recipe churns out an ice cream that is sweet.
But you’ll taste the cheddar which was the whole idea. The recipe came from
Gael Gand, pastry chef and partner at Tru restaurant
in Chicago, and a cheesemaker named Joe Widmer and appears on www.ChewingtheFat.us.com
courtesy of the American Dairy Association.
Fresh white ground pepper
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
16 ounces grated aged Cheddar
Heat the half-and-half, milk, vanilla bean, and white ground
pepper in a saucepan over medium heat to boil. Stir occasionally to make be
sure the mixture doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pan.
Turn off the heat and let cool 10 minutes to infuse the
flavors.
Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. In a thin
stream, whisk half of the half-and-half mixture into the egg yolk
mixture. Then pour the remaining half in and whisk well. Pour the
mixture back into the saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. At 160°F, the
mixture will give off a puff of steam. When the mixture reaches 180° it
will be thickened and creamy, like eggnog. If you don’t have a thermometer,
test it by dipping a wooden spoon into the mixture. Run your finger down
the back of the spoon. If the stripe remains clear, the mixture is
ready; if the edges blur, the mixture is not quite thick enough yet.
When the mixture is ready, quickly remove it from the heat.
Pour it through a fine sieve into a bowl. Stir in the grated cheese and whisk
to melt.
Rest the bottom of the bowl in an ice bath (a bowl with of ice cubes
and add cold water to cover). Let the mixture cool for 2 hours, stirring
occasionally. Then freeze according to the directions of your ice cream
machine.