Goat Cheese Galette

I made a traveling dinner party (as in, we brought a dinner party to someone’s house) a few weeks ago and my original

goat cheese galette

plan to make panelle (chickpea pizzas) with goat cheese and a rustic salsa fell through when I ran into the little problem of not being able to find any chickpea flour.  So, I switched gears and hoped that I had the right ingredients at home to make a goat cheese galette I’d seen from Joanne Weir.  Luckily, with a few substitutions I was able to pull it off.  The pastry dough was super easy to roll out with and work with- something I can’t always say, and people raved about the taste.  This is a rich dish, for sure, but great with some good olives as a starter.  It would also make a good light lunch with some mixed greens.  Serves 8-10 as part of an appetizer spread or 6 for a larger meal.

Ingredients:

11/2 cups all-purpose flour, placed in a bowl and frozen for 1 hour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

9 T unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled in the freezer for 1 hour

1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water

5 ounces goat cheese

4 ounces ricotta cheese

3/4 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup crème fraîche (sour cream or whole milk yogurt work fine here)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Remove frozen flour and bowl from freezer and mix in 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the frozen butter into the flour until half of the butter clumps are the size of peas and the rest are a little larger. Make a well in the center and add half of the ice water. Push together with your fingertips and set aside any dough that holds together. Add the rest of the water and repeat. Form the mixture into a rough ball.

On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough into a 14″ circle and trim the edges. Place on a large baking sheet and refrigerate.

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the green onions and cook until soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Mix together the goat cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, crème fraîche, and Parmigiano. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Remove the pastry from the refrigerator. Spread the cheese mixture over the pastry, leaving a 21/2-inch border around the edge uncovered. Fold the uncovered edge of the pastry over the cheese, pleating it to make it fit. The filling will be exposed in the center of the galette.

Bake the galette in the oven until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes (mine took more like 45-50). Let cool for 5 minutes, then slide the galette off the pan and onto a serving plate. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.