Zucchini and Yellow Squash Galette

While at the farmers market on Friday, I found the most brightly colored yellow squash I have ever seen.  It was almost more orange than yellow. (I have to insert here that unfortunately I have messed up the settings on my phone’s camera and all of the pictures I took for this post do not do justice to the colors of veggies) I thought it would be fun to make a brightly colored galette for dinner that night, so I grabbed some yellow squash, zucchini, parsley and basil. I found a nice, locally made Gruyere style cheese which I decided would be perfect in the galette. 

 I also found perfectly ripe cherries, peaches and some fresh haricots verts which I can never resist.  Next, I went off to Whole Foods to gather ingredients for the rest of my dinner.  I ended up making

§  Crostini with Ricotta & Olive Tapenade (used up leftover ricotta filling from my galette)

§  Arugula Salad with a Lemon Dressing, California Green Ripe Olives, Aged English Farmhouse Cheddar, Hearts of Palm and Avocado (Inspiration from a delicious salad I recently had at Carmel Belle)

§  Pan Seared Dover Sole with a Lemony Sauvignon Blanc Sauce and Capers

§  Zucchini and Yellow Squash Galette

§  Steamed Haricots Verts with a dusting of Pink Murray River Salt

§  Fresh Cherries and Peaches

I served the galette as a side dish, but it could easily be a main course.  I love making galettes, both savory and sweet because 1) I am a sucker for anything with a homemade crust 2) Galettes are kind of like me: free form and low stress (don’t worry-they are great no matter how bad you are at rolling out a circular shape) 3) They are just plain EASIER to serve than a pie.   Nothing annoys me more than when a piece of pie does not come out of the dish perfectly. (and it almost never does) Galettes can be cut like a pizza.  Easy peasy!  This galette was the an adaptation from a plethora of recipes including: the cookbook Pies, Tarts and Pastries(unfortunately I can’t remember the author right now), a Williams-Sonoma cookbook, Cooks Illustrated website, Smitten Kitchen blog and a recent picture I saw while shopping in Sur La Table.  Remember that the possibilities are endless and you can truly use whatever you happen to like or find at the store that day.  This recipe could be made Vegan by substituting Spectrum Naturals Shortening for the butter and eliminating the sour cream and egg wash altogether.  The ricotta filling could be made using drained tofu, nutritional yeast and a little olive oil. (I would crumble and drain it in a colander over night.) 

Zucchini and Yellow Squash Galette serves 10 as a main course

Pastry:

1 ¼ cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour

1 Tbsp. Kosher Salt

2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, cut into 16 pieces and frozen for 30 minutes

2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice

½ cup Sour Cream

¼- ½  Cup Ice Water

Filling:

3 small-medium Zucchini, sliced into ¼ inch slices

3 small Yellow Squash, sliced into ¼ inch slices

3 large garlic cloves, crushed

1 ¼ cups Fresh, Whole Milk Ricotta

½ cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

¾ cup Freshly Grated Gruyere Cheese

Kosher Salt & Freshly Grated Black Pepper, to taste

2 Tbsp. Chopped Parsley (optional)

6 large Basil leaves, cut into chiffonade (see note below)

Egg Wash:

1 Egg Yolk mixed with 1 tsp. Water

For Pastry:  In the bowl of a food processor, pulse both types of flour and kosher salt.  (Usually I drape a kitchen towel over the entire food processor so flour doesn’t leak out)  Dump the butter pieces in, and pulse until flour resembles a coarse cornmeal in texture.  Add lemon juice and sour cream, pulse a few times and then slowly add the ice water, pulsing in between each addition until dough holds together when you pick up a clump of it.  (You will probably need only half of the water)  Dump the mixture out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap, divide in half and shape each half into a disk.  Wrap both disks in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes.  While dough is chilling, prepare your filling.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Filling:  Lay zucchini and yellow squash out in a single layer on paper towels and sprinkle with kosher salt to bring out the excess moisture. (Ideally, let the zucchini and yellow squash sit for about thirty minutes to really draw out the water.) In a medium sized bowl, mix garlic, ricotta, parmesan, gruyere, salt, pepper and parsley. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. 

notice all of the moisture droplets that have been drawn out

Roll out Pastry:  On a floured work surface roll out one disk of pastry, leaving the other one in the refrigerator until you are ready to roll it out.  Roll into about a 12-14 inch circle.  Don’t worry if your circle is exact, mine never are.  Remember while rolling out the pastry to occasionally pick it up and dust the work surface with more flour, so you don’t end up with dough that is glued to your counter.  Transfer the pastry to a parchment paper lined sheet pan. 

Fill and Bake:  Spread about ½ the ricotta mixture onto your circle of pastry leaving about an inch border all the way around.  Thoroughly blot all of your squash dry with a wadded up paper towel.  You will notice that a lot of water will be beaded on top of it.  Layer the zucchini and yellow squash on top of the ricotta in the design of your choice.  I chose to do concentric circles alternating between zucchini and yellow squash.  Try to do fairly tight circles because the squash will shrink during the baking process.  Fold the pastry up over the edge all around.  Repeat with remaining pastry disk. 

 (You will most likely have more ricotta filling than you need-feel free to spread this on crackers. I made some quick crostini out of left over bread, spread the ricotta mixture on top, added about a teaspoon of olive tapenade and a sliver of red bell pepper for a quick hors d’oeuvres.)  Brush the egg wash over the pastry with a pastry brush.  If you would like, you can also brush the zucchini layers with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is nicely browned.   Remove from oven and sprinkle with basil chiffonade.  (This recipe can easily be halved)

Chiffonade: a chiffonade cut is basically when you take something that has broad, pliable leaves aka basil, sage, spinach and cut it into thin shred-like ribbons.  To achieve this take about five basil leaves and stack them on top of each other.  Roll the stack horizontally and using a sharp knife, thinly slice your roll.  You will end up with thin, perfect ribbons.