Mixed Squash Galette

A galette is like a pie or tart only not as fancy. Most people think of galettes as dessert, but they can just as easily be made with savory ingredients like the one I made today.

I love that there's no wasted dough with a galette, and you can made it whatever shape you like. You just roll out the dough, arrange the filling, fold up the sides, and bake. Also, you can put almost anything you want inside, so long as it isn't too wet. So it's a great vehicle for creativity in the kitchen.

You can use any pie crust dough recipe you're comfortable with or you can buy an unbaked, frozen crust. You can even substitute filo dough and produce a similar product.

For my galette, I used slices of zucchini, butternut squash, onion, and tomato, as well as two leaves of kale. I sauteed all of the vegetables, except the tomato, to soften them a little. However, with the exception of the kale, this step is not necessary if you like your vegetables crunchy.

For the crust:

1-1/2 C flour
1 t salt
1 stick very cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 T ice water

1. Place the flour and salt in the work bowl of a food processor and process for 1-2 seconds until combined.

2. Add the butter and process until the butter is evenly distributed in small pebbles throughout the flour.

3. Add 2-3 T ice water and process just until the dough will hold together. Test this by pinching a small amount of dough between your fingers. If it sticks together, it's been processed enough. If not, process in a little more ice water and test again.

4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and press the dough together. Wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to fill the galette.

For the galette:

1-2 T olive oil
1-2 medium zucchini, sliced in 1/4" slices
1/3 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced in 1/4" slices
1 medium onion, sliced crosswise in 1/4" slices
2-3 leaves kale, sliced crosswise 1/4-1/2"
1 large tomato, cut crosswise in 1/4" slices
salt and pepper to taste
1 recipe pie crust (see above)
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. In a large skillet, heat the oil and briefly saute the zucchini, butternut squash, and onion slices in a single layer on both slices until barely tender. Sprinkle them with a little salt while they're cooking. Cook slices in several batches, if necessary. Remove from the skillet and cool.

3. In the same skillet, adding a little extra oil if necessary, saute the kale until wilted. Season with a little salt and pepper while cooking. When done, remove from the skillet to cool.

4. Remove the pie crust dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured pastry cloth or cheet of wax paper. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet.

5. Layer the slices of zucchini, butternut squash, and onions, slightly overlapping each other in the center of the dough, leaving about 2" of dough all the way around. Mix in the wilted kale. Top with a layer of sliced tomatoes.

6. Carefully fold up the edges of the dough. It's fine if the dough pleats a little.

7. Beat the egg in a cup and brush the dough with the beaten egg. Sprinkle a little kosher or large grain salt on the dough, if desired, and back at 425 F for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 375 F and bake until the crust is golden, above 30-40 minutes longer.

Serve hot, warm, room temperature, or cold. This recipe makes 4 generous servings.

You can sprinkle in any herbs you like when you're arranging the vegetables. You can also sprinkle grated cheese over the vegetables for more protein and flavor.

Don't hesitate to experiment with fillings of your own. It's all good.

Today's bounty included:

From Sage Mountain Farm: Hybrid tomatoes, sweet candy onions, Fingerling potatoes, Rainbow Swiss chard, and garlic.

From Underwood Family Farms: Galia melon, zucchini, Brandywine tomatoes, green cabbage, kale, yellow zucchini, butternut squash, green leaf lettuce, Blue Lake beans, round carrots, golden beets and candy beets.

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Hass avocados and lemons.

And from Silver Lake Farms: mustard and arugula microgreens.

Enjoy!

Shelley