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Aabergine, Cheese, Chefs, eggs, Entertainment, food and drink, Food Blogs, free range, Galette, Herbs, Lifestyle, Mushroom, organic, Produce, puff pastry, recipe, S.A. Food Blogs, Salads, Spices, Yoghurt
Everyone that I have served this Galette to has requested the recipe. What I like is that I can prep everything ahead of time and when ready to bake, quickly assemble the Galette in a bout 5-10 minutes and pop it into the oven for about 40 minutes, leaving me free to enjoy the company of my guests for most of the evening. As a side dish I toss together some baby gem lettuce, onion, chopped tomato, and sprinkle over some olive oil and splash with some vinegar then season with salt and pepper. It’s a perfect evening meal.
I use frozen puff pastry for this Galette; it is one of my handy stock items, I always have a few rolls in the deep freeze.
Serves 4 as a light meal
Ingredients
Ready-made puff pastry
250 g mixed mushrooms, thickly sliced
350 g Aubergines cut into small dice
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground cayenne
½ tsp. paprika
1 log soft goats cheese (120gm approximately)
110 g thick Greek yoghurt
50 g Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated
1 tablespoon each fresh thyme, oregano leaves, roughly chopped
Small handful of parsley roughly chopped
2 eggs lightly beaten
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
30 g butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Method
Heat the oven to 180∘C
Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface, to about 3mm thick and into a round shape of about 30 cm diameter, it does not need to be perfect. Place pastry on an oven tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes to rest.
Heat a large frying pan on the stove and ‘dry fry’ the mushrooms for about 10 minutes, this method adds flavour and evaporates the excess moisture, cook until lightly golden, season with salt and pepper, sauté for a few more minutes till all the moisture is cooked off. Set aside in a bowl.
Dry fry the aubergines for about 10 minutes, season with salt and pepper add some of the oil and cook for a further 10 minutes; remove and add to the bowl with the mushrooms.
In the same pan add the balance of the oil, add the onions and sauté until translucent and slightly golden, add the garlic and dry spices and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add to the mushrooms and aubergines. Mix in the soft goats’ cheese, yoghurt, herbs, lemon rind, egg and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture in an even layer over the pastry, leaving a 3cm border.
Melt the butter, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Drizzle over the mixture and sprinkle with the gruyere cheese. Fold in the pastry edges, pleating as you go.
Bake at 180∘C for about 40 minutes, the pastry should be crisp and golden
Clifton Kitchen - Cooking Through The Seasons 