Tomato Galette
By Ann M. Evans
Summer – 2015
2015 seems to be the summer of the tomato galette. I have a brilliant crust recipe, based on “No Fail, Sour Cream Pastry Crust” from the website “Simply Recipes.” I add Parmesan cheese and fresh thyme to it, as suggested by my friend Jamie Buffington. I serve this with a simple green salad, followed by a fruit and cheese course with fresh summer honeycomb for dessert.
Pastry Crust for Savory Galette
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese
1 -2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 sticks sweet butter (so salt)
½ cup full fat sour cream
2 tablespoons milk
Grey course sea salt
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Mix the flour, salt, cheese and thyme together in a large mixing bowl. Using a large grater, grate the butter into the flour. Mix together with your hands until the flour and butter form small pea sized lumps, about 4-5 minutes. Add the sour cream and blend with a fork. Dough should hold together and come away from the sides of the bowl.
Pull the dough together with your hands and pat into a disc. Flour the disk and cover with plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Can leave longer, but if more than 2 hours, let dough come to almost room temperature, about 15-20 minutes, before rolling.
Lightly flour a smooth, non-stick surface such as marble or wood. Place disc on top of it and using a rolling pin, roll out in the shape of a circle, about 6 inches in diameter. Using a cake spatula to get flour underneath the surface of the dough, turn dough over, lightly flour again on top and underneath. Complete rolling, about 14 inches. Using the cake spatula and flour again, make sure dough will come off surface. Roll onto a rolling pin for easy placement on your baking sheet.
Place crust on baking sheet.
Filling
1-2 lb (about 8-10) plum tomatoes (Non plums will be more juicy, but will work.)
3-4 ounces goat cheese
Slice the tomatoes. Starting from the center of the crust, place the tomatoes going round in a circle until all the tomatoes are used. Leave a 3-inch space of the crust, where you will fold it over onto the filling. Place small portions of the goat cheese, about 1 teaspoon, over the tomatoes throughout the galette.
Fold the 3-inch “lip” of the crust over the filling, allowing it to fold in on itself where necessary to create a circle.
Brush the 3-inch crust with milk and sprinkle with grey sea salt.
Bake at 425 degrees until the crust is golden, about 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 350 degrees and bake another 20 minutes. Remove galette from oven and let cool 5 minutes. Serve warm.
Serves 4 people, 2 slices each.