Galette with caramelized onion, fennel and kale
This galette is made possible from the generous contribution of a leftover pastry from yesterday’s pot pie! Like the beans I cook in bulk, I think I will continue to double every pastry recipe and freeze half for later adventures! It makes the second adventure so easy!
Once again, I am working through the contents of this week’s luscious bounty from my Foxtail Farm CSA. This dish includes small red onions, fennel, kale, zucchini and yellow squash from the box. I also made a fennel and rosemary pesto to top the galette, and I’m sure that will evolve into sandwich topping or pasta sauce for multi-purposed enjoyment!
Ingredients:
Filling:
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 cups diced red onion
3 large fennel bulbs thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 large stalks kale deveined and chopped
3/4 cup crumbled sheep’s milk feta
Yellow squash, thinly sliced
Zucchini, thinly sliced
Pastry:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, diced
2/3 cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
Pastry Directions:
This is a food processor method for pastry. Start by mixing the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add diced butter and pulse a few times until it looks like a crumble. I like to pulse the machine and add the ice water in a slow dribble just until it comes together. Dump the dough out onto the counter and knead quickly into a ball. Place it in a covered bowl in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Filling Directions:
This caramelization process is not something I normally do very well when I am working. I just don’t have the time for it, but as I am home now, I can fiddle with these techniques that involve a little more time and patience. I thinly sliced the onions and fennel and tossed them into a heated pan with olive oil. I had the heat moderately high to give them a quick cook, but then turned it down as low as I could and left them to caramelize for about twenty minutes. I did stir them occasionally, and when the pan began to dry, I put the lid on to deglaze with their own juices. While the onions and fennel were sauteing, I steamed the kale for perhaps ten minutes. I then added it to the onions and fennel and allowed them to slowly cook together. I used the steaming water from the kale to deglaze the pan a couple of times, and when all the liquid was evaporated and my fennel and onions a lovely shade of toffee, I considered the process to be over. I mixed in most of the feta leaving just a little to sprinkle on top for the final bake.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and roll out the galette crust. Place it on a large cookie sheet and fill the middle of the pastry with the vegetable mixture. Decorate with the summer squashes, and then fold up the pastry around the filling. Sprinkle the last of the feta on top and bake for about 50 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. I brushed this crust with the fennel and rosemary pesto about ten minutes before it was finished baking.
Vegetarian Perspective 