The Palm Beach Post

The forgiving galette is unforgetta­ble

- By Arthi Subramania­m Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Novice cooks, rustic vegetable galettes have your name written all over it.

They are as simple as they come — the crust could be made with store -bought ready-to-bake puffff pastry sheets, the savory filling can be prepared with whatever vegetables you have on hand, and the recipe does not require a fancy tart pan or even a pie dish; a cookie sheet or baking tray will suffiffice.

If you are not a master of rolling out a puffff pastry sheet to a perfec t circle, it’s plenty fifine; the galette won’t hold it against it you. Even if the crust is remotely round, it is still a galette.

Just like its shape, the definition also is loose and freeform. The French native is derived from the word galet, meaning a smooth, flflat pebble. By defifiniti­on it is a cake-like creation, but in today’s world it’s a rustic tart made with a single pastry, and looks like a pizza. The fifilling can be sweet or savory, and the sides of the galette can be folded up or crimped and left rather flflat.

The loosey-goosey attitude of a vegetable galette extends to its fifilling, which c an be made combining broccoli, red peppers, Parmesan and pesto; or tomatoes, spinach and feta; or eggplant, zucchini and goat cheese.

Although there are no hard- and-fast rules to follow, the galette will be pie perfect if you keep a couple of minor tips in mind. Lightly flflour the dough and roll it out on parchment paper so it won’t stick. The paper also will come in handy to help fold the edges of the dough over the fifilling.

It’s important that the fifilling is dry as this will prevent the pastry dough from get-

way of keeping the galette’s crust crisp and firm is dust breadcrumb­s over the pastry sheet before topping it with pesto and the vegetable filling. ting soggy. Finally, don’t pile the fifilling high. The galette is cooked on a cookie sheet and not in a pie pan, and so remember that the crust is not getting any help to hold its structure.

At the end of it all, tips or no tips, a galette is just a laid-back pie that is a shooin inductee for the Simple Recipe Hall of Fame.

 ?? ANDREW RUSH / PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE ?? This broccoli, red pepper and pesto galette is really just a laid-back pie.
ANDREW RUSH / PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE This broccoli, red pepper and pesto galette is really just a laid-back pie.
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