Galette with Roasted Squash, Kale, and Ricotta
How's that for a mouthful?
Here's the story: I had a tub of whole milk ricotta in the fridge that was about to expire. I bought some beautiful little zucchinis at the farmer's market last week with no purpose in mind. And here's the real story--we are SWIMMING in kale around here, and I can't use it up fast enough. I send Wyatt out to the garden to cut it, he comes in with big armloads, and I have to figure out what to do with it. I wish I knew someone I could call for ideas. Maybe someone who constantly thought about food.
And I have a friend whose son was just in the hospital and wanted to drop by some food. I often bring a galette in such situations for these reasons:
- It will keep beautifully sitting on the counter for a couple days.
- I have a stack of flat pizza boxes in my basement just for this purpose. Slip the galette in there on a piece of parchment paper, fold the box up around it, and it's as indestructible as portable food gets.
- There probably won't be 10 other galette deliveries to the recovering household (though there is nothing wrong with eating spaghetti all week).
- Savory ones are good at any meal. Fruit galettes are great for breakfast or dessert.
- They make me look like a better cook than I really am.
- It's just as easy to make two. If I'm trying to gain entrance to heaven, I give them both away . If I'm more sane, I keep one for us.
Wyatt has been such a great helper and companion lately--cutting kale, watering the garden, getting snacks for Loretta, making up games for her while I clean the kitchen. During Loretta's nap the other day, Wyatt and I lounged around on my bed, talking. It was one of those moments when I didn't want to budge. He was letting me play with his hair and rub his back, and we were talking about the fish he planned on catching at Ross Lake. Somehow, I would up asking him if there was anything he was worried about. He put a pillow over his face, growled, and said, "Mom! Can we puh-lease not have this conversation?" End of Precious Moment. I went too far. Someday, he'll be in therapy, saying, "My Mom. Wow. Where do I start? She always wanted to talk about everything. And what I remember most about my childhood is grocery shopping. Always the grocery shopping."
Galette with Roasted Squash, Kale, and Ricotta
This makes two crusts and two fillings. You can, of course, halve it. You could also leave the kale out of the ricotta filling, sub sauteed spinach or chard for the kale, and use other roasted veggies on top--roasted tomatoes (YUM!) or garlic, roasted peppers. Just stay away from dumping a bunch of raw veggies on top, which make the situation very watery.
For dough:
2 c. flour
pinch salt
1/2 c. cornmeal
14 Tb. cold unsalted butter
2/3 c. ice water
6 Tb. sour cream
Pulse flour and cornmeal together in the bowl of a food processor. Drop butter in and pulse until butter is in pea-sized lumps. Stir ice water and sour cream together in a small bowl, then drizzle over flour mixture. Pulse again about 8 times just until mixture holds together–you don’t want to pulse it so much that it forms itself into a ball.
Gather dough together and form into a ball. Put ball on a piece of plastic wrap, loosely gather plastic wrap around it and twist, then press dough into a disc. Repeat with second half of dough. Refrigerate for one hour before rolling out. Roll out on a floured surface till dough is about 1/8″ thick. Fold into quarters and transfer to baking sheet. Unfold and fill.
For roasted veggies:
Heat oven to 425.Take three or four small zucchini or summer squash and slice them into 1/2" thick rounds. Cut a medium yellow or red onion into coarse chunks, and toss the squash and onions with a big glug of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread mixture out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, and roast for 25-30 minutes, until veggies are soft and getting charred in places. Stir once or twice. Remove from oven and cool.
For ricotta mixture:
Saute down a BUNCH of chopped kale with olive oil and salt. At least two bunches if you've bought it at the store, and as much as your pan will hold if you're picking it. I start with a big ol' wok-full, then fill it up again when the first addition shrinks. Cook for about 10 minutes. Let it sit for a bit, and the water will pool up underneath it. Leave the water in the pan, and put the cooked kale in a medium bowl. Add one 15 oz. tub of whole milk ricotta, 1 egg, grated zest from one lemon, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
To assemble:
Get your crust onto the pan you'll be baking it on. Spread half ricotta mixture on crust, leaving about a 1" border. Scatter half of roasted veggie mixture over ricotta, then finely grate a bit of parmesan over the top. Fold crust in, pleating as you go. This is where "rustic" really comes in. It will look beautiful no matter what. Brush the crush with an egg wash--one egg, lightly beaten with a tsp. of water. Dip a pastry brush in, and lightly brush the crust.
Bake at 375 for 25-35 minutes, until crust is golden and filling is bubbling a bit. Let cool for several minutes before slicing. Is great at room temp the next day, too. I never refrigerate them.
July 24, 2010
Reader Comments (24)
I just have to say "Thank You"!! This was seriously delicious and much needed. Haakon said that it was the tastiest thing with egg in it that he had eaten in a long time (he's not an egg man, can you tell?). We're on the mend and I'm sure the good food we've been eating this week has something to do with it.
I just printed this post and will add it to my ever-growing IPOL folder. Chard is the word around here so I'll proceed thusly. Please tell that ever- so- handsome Wyatt that I would REALLY like to have his autograph!! What a great guy! Have you tried Kale pesto?
That is the cutest damn picture of Wyatt!!
I love Kale and any other green you're swimming in if you're ever in the neighborhood and want to unload some :)
Beautiful picture of the zucchini sister, beautiful. You're loving up that camera.
Love the galette, it's sort of like my tart addiction.
Great way to use kale........I just made a tourte aux blettes w/ chard, raisins and pine nuts because we have so much of it!
Also....love the idea of bringing a galette to someone's home. I never know what to bring.
Cute story of Wyatt too.
Have a nice weekend.
Stacey
I believe I can finally call myself a leftoverist... I actually have every single thing in my fridge needed to make this!! How exciting!
p.s. my favorite kale recipe is a kale salad with a peanut dressing. I found it in a Martha Stewart mag last summer and it was surprisingly easy (especially since most every recipe of hers, in my opinion, is decidedly NOT easy). Just chop up the kale, add carrots, peppers, whatever (or nothing) and pour a dressing made of oil, peanuts, salt, sugar, vinegar (or some combo like that- I'm sure you could figure something out). It is always a hit at BBQs and people can never believe they are eating raw kale.
Wyatt's enthusiasm for food and specifically what his mama makes him is so incredible. He is clearly so proud of his mama and loves sharing about blog posts and all the delicious things you cook up for him. I wish we could move into your house and enjoy that food with him. :) I hope that my little boy will look at me that way when he is 7 years old. And finally, I love kale!!! Here are some of my favorite ways to use it. I will take any extra kale you have off your hands. We're going to be swimming in plums so maybe we could trade.
1. The pasta and kale salad from PCC. It has chopped kale, penne pasta, goat cheese, poppy seeds and some kind of vinagrette that involves orange juice.
2. Baked eggs and kale, from the Urban Pantry cookbook, with a big hunk of crusty bread. and
3. Sauteing a whole bunch with olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice at the end. It always cooks down so much that you end up eating a ton of kale without even knowing it.
I kid you not - a friend of mine asked me today if I had heard of massaged kale. She had a salad she loved at a friends' house and that person soaked the kale in water and then manually massaged it for two minutes. It was drained and tossed with apples, currants and some kind of vinaigrette. Not cooked. My friend, whose palate I trust, liked it enough to ask for the recipe. Just trying to help you out here! :)
I enjoy your posts so so much...and the recipes more! This sounds like a perfect summer dinner for my mom and I - mmmm.
Love the corn pictures! Well, I would chop up the kale and freeze it in big bags to use in soups etc during the fall and winter. :-)
That's a great idea, Justine. It costs a fortune at the co-op and I feel like I'm splurging when I buy it in the winter. This is when I start longing for a little chest freezer...
I think I need to get sick, right around the corner from your house. (Would it look too suspicious if a posted a Need Galette NOW!! sign?) Genius, this. Never thought of a galette as a go-to take-out item. Silly me.
Sarah, that's just beautiful. Looking forward to whipping up something in that vein.
I'm totally bookmarking this because my csa is totally swimming in kale and I need something new to do with it. This looks awesome. Awesome.
Thanks for this recipe -- I made it for dinner and, because I didn't have kale, I added fresh arugula over the top after it came out of the oven. It made for a nice, light dinner. Really liked the crust!
I made this last night with a few alterations (yogurt & cheese mixture instead of ricotta), and I'm eating leftovers for lunch right now, and I just have to tell you THANK YOU! This will definitely become a part of the regular rotation. The dough is so easy (and delicious), and it's so adaptable. Cheers!
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i just want to squeeze that cute face of his. OH! your kids are so deliciously cute!
Oooo! I'm totally going to do this. I found Not Martha's directions for freezing greens here: http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2009/06/12/how-to-blanch-and-freeze-kale/
Great idea!
Why hasn't anyone mentioned kale chips?!?! They're amazing!! You can find a million "recipes" but just toss kale with tiny bit of oil, salt, and whatever seasoning/herb and roast at like 400degrees for 15 min or so.....they will blow your mind and your kids will mow thru them!
Yeah! Good job!
Arugula over the top of anything. Yum.
Wow...all these recipes looks divine and they are motivating me to stretch my cooking again! Thank you!
When you describe 'gathering the dough', you mentioned something about the second half of the dough, although never mentioned splitting it. Can you explain?
Thank you!
[...] Dough Adapted from In Praise of Leftovers 1 1/2 c. AP flour 1/2 c. whole-wheat flour 1/2 c. cornmeal 1/2 tsp. salt 14 tablespoons unsalted [...]