So this is how I kept myself busy over the holidays:
With cheese.
Yup, delicious Ricotta cheese mixed with 3 other cheesy friends and some delicious green circles, all guarded by a soft-yet-crunchy crust. YUM!
We had over 15 family members over at our place for the holidays and it was the ideal time to try something new and for a lot of people. I browsed Pinterest for a dish that we could all share but at the same time that looked different than what you regularly eat with a whole bunch of people (like pizza…or pizza…oh! and pizza!). The cheesiness and the eye-catching green-ness of this recipe over at Always with Butter caught my eye (and heart).
This, my friends, is a gallete. A zucchini and ricotta galette.
I did end up making a couple of regular ham & cheese pizzas for the kids (picture below), since you know how they are repelled by greens, but galette was a perfect treat for the grownups.
“Galette” is the French way of calling a thin cake with a crispy crust; it’s like a pie but with an easier-to-make crust. I think of it as being pizza’s fancy cousin (that’s also waaay much easier to make than pizza!). So you know, if you want to impress your friends and family but at the same time don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen: make a galette! Make this galette.
And although I have no recipe video for you this time (sorry, I’m in the middle of moving apartments!), I found out that this delicious French crust even has its own children’s song “J’aime la galette” (which basically is about loving a galette with butter inside — so perfect!). The tune is catchy (and cheesy by itself haha!) and you’ll end up humming it while you bake.
OK, before you start, something important TIMEWISE: you do have to let the dough chill for 1 hour and keep the zucchini 1/2 hour over salt. Keep it in mind in case you get hungry!
About the zucchini over salt thing: a lot of people think it’s to draw out the bitterness that some zucchini variations (and eggplants too) have, but it’s actually got to do more with taking away some of its moisture so it’s sturdier and doesn’t end up being soggy at the end.
I like to think I spread some healthy goodness around their stomachs that day… but…
Ricotta + Cream cheese + Parmesan + Mozzarella
= CREAMY, LONG-LASTING, MILKY-CHEESENESS.
….the truth is I went a little overboard with the cheese (I mean, who wouldn’t?!) and it turned to be AWESOME. So you choose, you could stick to the recipe I found or to mine (cheese. cheese. cheese.), and with mine you’ll be happy, and happy = healthy. So that’s that!
As a tip, you don’t want to overfill your galette with too many zucchini circles: just like I did. If you do this, it’ll be harder for you to fold its edges in a way that looks nice and professional. I mean, as long as it has loads of cheese, we can dismiss a couple of delicious green circles.
See? That’s what I was talking about. Or maybe I should’ve done like Deb, from Smitten Kitchen, placing the zucchini in circles, like a bullseye (check out her recipe!).
It still tasted A-ma-zing though. Look at how it came out of the oven:
Last but not least: you can also find a thousand sweet versions of it (like this Pear and Apple Galette from The Kitchn) …and yes, those will most definitely be future La Cooquette projects!
ok, no more talking, let’s start the baking:
PREP TIME: 10 MIN + 1 H (CHILLIN’) – COOK TIME: 30-40 MIN – SERVE TIME: 2 H
Ingredients*
Pastry (everything has to be cold cold cold! But not Frozen!)
- 1 1/4 cups of flour – chilled in freezer (for at least 30min)
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 8 Tbps, of cold butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup of sour cream
- 2 tsp of lemon juice
- 1/4 cup of iced water
Filling (don’t the “-eese”‘s make you smile?!)
- 2 medium zucchini, sliced in rounds
- 1 tbsp of olive oil (plus a little more to drizzle on top)
- 1/2 cup of Ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup of Cream cheese
- 1 tsp of oregano powder
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1/2 cup of Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 egg yolk mixed with a little bit of water (for egg wash)
- a little bit of pepper to season
Instructions
-To make the crust, start by mixing the flour and salt, and then add add the cold butter portions. In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream, the lemon juice and the iced water. Blend the two together but not too much : I use my hands a little bit, yes. Wrap it up in transparent film and chill in the freezer for an hour.
–Remember: cut your zucchini and put the slices on top of paper towels. Spread some salt on top of it and leave it for half an hour.
-You can prepare the creamy cheese filling in the meantime: you’ll just need to mix with a spoon or a spatula the 4 cheeses (Ricotta, cream, Parmesan, Mozzarella), the olive oil, the garlic powder, and then season with salt and pepper.
–After the “chilling” hour has passed: Prep your oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Get your dough out from the freezer use a rolling pin to roll it on a round 12-in baking sheet, until it becomes a flat circle. Spread the cheesy mixture over it, leaving a clean edge of about 2 inches. Place your zucchini rounds on top the prettiest way you can (Smitten Kitchen does it “in concentric circles, starting at the outside edge”). Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top of it (and I added a little bit more of salt and pepper).
-Fold that edge of the dough that you left over the filling, stretching it so it kinda goes on top of it but knowing that it won’t cover it (see pictures above, you’re gonna leave a circle of zucchini goodness). You can make pleads if it’s sturdy enough (careful! I stretched mine a bit too far and it started tearing haha) or just push it a bit so it stays put. Brush with egg wash on top of the crust, to get that nice glazed look.
-Put it in the oven for about 30-40 min. or until you see the crust get’s golden/brownish.
And ta-da!
ENJOY! 🙂
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