Roasted Vegetable Galettes
I don’t know how to put this, but…I’m kind of a big deal.
This is possibly my favorite Ron Burgundy quote, and I say it regularly. In the last two weeks, however, I have been saying it daily. Often after creeping up on my husband in the bathroom or shaking him awake in the middle of the night. “I don’t know how to put this, but…I made my own puff pastry,” I say.
He shakes his head and/or grunts something unintelligible most of the time, but I know what he really means: “Wow, honey. You are incredible. I’m so glad I said yes when you asked me to marry you.”
Not above mixing my movie quotes, I have skills. Bow hunting skills, bass fishing skills, and puff pastry-making skills. Yes. Because I don’t know if you heard, but I made my own puff pastry pastry.
And all it took was some planning, organization, half a day, and two pounds of butter. See? Anyone can do it.
And you should too, if you have some time to kill and the need for butter-soft hands. Otherwise, grab some Dufour from the freezer section and you’re good to go with any recipe that calls for puff pastry, such as the one below.
But before we get to the recipe, let me prevaricate a bit. I was not expecting my first experience with puff pastry to go well. I was expecting disappointment, like when the British Bake Off contestants stare into their ovens and wail, “I don’t know what happened! It never melted/burned/refused to rise or solidify in practice!!!”
But I was not disappointed. This puff pastry did as the name implied: it puffed. It also crisped, burst into shards of buttery decadence in my mouth, and was utterly delicious. And now…I’m kind of a big deal.
I made puff pastry as a learning experience. And then stood there with five pounds of puff pastry on my hands realizing I hadn’t really thought this through. What the hell to do with it all? Aside from tarte tatin, which is most definitely in my future. And while I do not doubt my ability to eat five pounds of puff pastry all in tatin form, I also needed to make dinner.
Long story short: roasted vegetable galettes. All from things I already had in my produce drawer.
The toppings - roasted tomato with feta, and roasted peppers and onions with baked eggs - were inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi’s… entire body of work, basically.
I often stand in front of my refrigerator and ask myself what Y.O. would make for dinner with what I have. Half the time, the answer is roasted tomatoes served hot over cold salted yogurt with lemon zest, as it is freaking delicious. And while that served as inspiration for one variant, the other came from his cookbook Jerusalem, where he was kind enough to spell out the solution to my puff pastry dinner dilemma.
In my version, I roasted onions and red peppers, tossing in some fresh sage I happened to have on hand. (It’s been in the produce drawer for nearly a month, and still fresh as a daisy! Who knew?) This paired with the eggs on half my galettes. For the rest of the galettes, I roasted tomatoes with z’atar and topped them with feta.
I paired these with a simple green salad, called it Dinner, and there was much rejoicing in all the land.
For drink pairings, I recommend either three fingers of Glenlivet, or a Manhattan… after you kick the vermouth in the side with a pair of steel-toed boots.
Enjoy.
Makes 6 galettes: 3 roasted tomato and 3 roasted pepper
Shit You Need
Puff pastry, 14 ounces (if frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator)
One egg whisked with 2 teaspoons water, for egg wash
Roasted Pepper Galettes with Baked Eggs
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
one onion, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/2 inch wedges
one red pepper, sliced into 1/2 inch thick strips
fresh sage, one sprig
olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
3 eggs
Roasted Tomato and Feta Galettes
cherry tomatoes, 12 ounces
fresh oregano, 3 sprigs
olive oil
1 tablespoon z’atar seasoning
feta cheese
Keep Calm and justeffingcook
Prepare the roasted vegetables
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In one oven-safe baking dish, toss onions and peppers with sage sprig and a generous amount (2 or 3 Tbs) of olive oil. Season with a few pinches of salt and a few generous grinds of pepper.
In another baking dish, toss tomatoes with 2 or 3 Tbs of olive oil, two sprigs of fresh oregano (reserve the last sprig for later), the z’atar spice mix, and additional salt, to taste. Some z’atar mixes contain salt, other’s don’t. Or you can make your own z’atar by tossing together sesame seeds, thyme, and ground sumac.
We have grown to love z’atar in our household. I use it as a spice mix to roast chicken, veggies, or give anything a little Middle Eastern kick.
Roast the peppers and onions, tossing occasionally, until softened and they are beginning to caramelize, about 35 minutes. At the same time, roast the tomatoes, tossing occasionally, until they burst, lose some of their liquid, and begin to darken. This takes a little longer than the peppers and onions. Or you can do what I do, and once you take the peppers out of the oven, turn on the broiler and hit the tomatoes with that for 5 minutes or so.
While the vegetables are roasting, roll out puff pastry until it is a 1/8 inch thick rectangle. Cut in half lengthwise, and then cut each strip into thirds. Space the puff pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Once the vegetables are ready, discard the herb sprigs and set the vegetables aside to cool until you are ready to use them.
Assemble galettes
Turn the oven up to 425 Fahrenheit.
Remove puff pastry from oven and brush the tops with the egg wash.
Top half of the pastry squares with sour cream/creme fraiche, leaving a 1/4 inch border to allow the pastry to puff.
To the sour cream-topped pastry, add the pepper mixture in a somewhat even layer, leaving that quarter-inch border. Make a slight hollow in the center. (There will be leftover peppers and onions)
To the remaining pastry squares, add tomatoes in an even layer, leaving - you guessed it - a 1/4 inch border. Crumble feta generously over the top, reserving about half.
Bake the galettes for 14 minutes. Remove from oven and add one egg to the center of each pepper-topped galette. Return to the oven and bake all until the egg whites are set and opaque but the yolks still runny, about another 10 minutes. In my oven, it took 12 minutes, but it’s cool like that. 😎
Sprinkle the tomato galettes with the remaining feta and sprinkle reserved fresh oregano leaves over the top. If you have a bit more fresh sage, garnish the egg and pepper galettes with some small (or chopped) leaves.
Drizzle olive oil over each galette and serve.
