Veggie Galette

I love pies and all sorts of tarts (the food kind, anyway, and some of the human ones as well). Sweet or savory, fancy or down-to-earth, quiches, Because Pie, apple pie, lemon meringue, …

What I don’t like as much is washing the dishes. I might have mentioned that at some point. A pie pan is already very handy in that it’s the baking dish and the serving dish all in one, but at the end of the day/meal, it’s still a dish to clean. Enter the galette!

A galette is a free-form pie baked on a baking sheet without a pie pan. (The dishwashing argument is only valid if you bake the galette on parchment paper, of course.)

This galette is a healthy and fresh, multi-talented meal. You could make it for brunch, lunch, dinner, or a slightly-more-elaborate-than-cereal midnight snack. In the rare cases where there’s leftovers, you could probably even have it for breakfast.

The recipe is also very weeknight-friendly since it keeps the prep to a minimum, while still using fresh, wholesome ingredients!

It’s also easily adaptable to the tastes of picky eaters or just for variety. Add mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, various herbs, even bacon or ground meat, the choice is yours. I played with the idea of cracking an egg over the top – might do that next time. You could even make it sweet with bananas and nutella, or strawberries and a splash of vanilla-infused cream. I’m getting hungry now, so I’ll stop here, because I’m out of puff pastry.

Let’s get crackin’.

Veggie Galette

• 1 sheet prepared puff pastry (or 1 package premade frozen puff pastry; I used low-fat)
• 3 large tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 hunk of feta (ca. 7 ounces)
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• pepper
• Basil, oregano (fresh, freeze-dried, or frozen)
• grated cheese of your choice (optional)
• water or egg yolk to brush the pastry with

Wash and core the bell pepper. Cut it into thin slices or small cubes. Wash the tomatoes and remove their stems. Cut them into thin slices as well. Thinly slice the feta.

My puff pastry came already rolled-out on a sheet of parchment paper. If yours is different, you’ll need to (de-frost and) roll it out (if necessary, fusing the edges of the individual sheets together) and place it on a piece of parchment paper or a silpat, or a very lightly greased baking sheet.*

You now want to layer all of your galette fillings in the center of the puff pastry sheet. Leave a 10 cm/4 in border around the fillings so you can fold the pastry over the edge of the filling.

Start with the feta, covering the whole center of the pastry. Season with some pepper and herbs.

Next, place the bell pepper slices/cubes on top of the feta in an even layer. Season with onion and garlic powders, herbs, and pepper.

Arrange the tomato slices in a final layer, making this as pretty as you see fit. Season some more.

Now fold the pastry over the edge of your filling, letting most of the tomatoes peek out in the middle. Make sure to seal the edges where pastry meets pastry so the galette keeps its shape during baking. Brush the pastry with some cold water or an egg yolk (I used water).

If using, sprinkle on some grated cheese.

Bake for 20-30 minutes and let it rest for ten minutes before cutting.

*The parchment paper was drenched and stuck to the bottom of my galette because the tomato juices had combined with the feta to form a lovely sauce. We didn’t mind it terribly, but I recommend using silpat or simply a greased baking sheet to prevent this from happening. You could also core the tomatoes if you’re not bothered by the waste and lack of flavor. 😉