I happen to be in the baking mood lately, not sure if it’s the slight drop in the temperature, or if I just needed a nice kitchen distraction. But honestly, in my opinion, you don’t really need any excuse to cook, just some good ingredients and I felt like making a galette. I normally always made sweet fruit versions, but we had some great local NJ tomatoes sitting on the counter and our homegrown cherry tomatoes were in season, so why not make a savory galette?
And, since I might as well go all in, why not top it off with a savory whipped cream. A blue cheese whipped cream perhaps? Think of this as a recipe for an overly indulgent pizza. About 5x the calories, but worth it. I have no shame.
I actually got the idea for the savory whipped cream ‘cause I noticed that when I make blue cheese dressing, the cream and blue cheese become one after sitting for about an hour. So why not try and whip it up. I’ve made chocolate, orange and raspberry whipped creams before, so I might as well try out a blue cheese version.
in my opinion, you don't really need any excuse to cook, just some good ingredients and I felt like making a galette
You really want to makes sure you roast the tomatoes. Don’t skip this bit. You need to reduce the water content in the tomatoes otherwise, you’ll have a soupy, soggy galette. Not ideal. You want the final version to have a crisp crust and jammy tomato filling when it’s done.
And as with any pastry or pie dough, you want to keep all the ingredients super cold. That way it’ll be nice and flaky when baked.
Roasted Tomato Galette
with Blue Cheese Whipped Cream
The tomato bit
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 C cherry or grape tomatoes – about a handful
- Garlic – 5 cloves
- Thyme
- Olive Oil
- S&P
Galette Dough
- 2 1/2 c flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c butter – cut in cubes
- 6-8 tbsp ice water
Blue cheese whip
- Smokey blue from rouge creamery – 1/8 lb – 2oz
- 1/4C – 1/2C heavy cream
Preheat your over to 400°F (200°C).
First up you want to get you tomatoes roasting. Slice your big tomatoes into 1/2” (1cm) slices and the small tomatoes in half. Scatter them in an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. And, if you like, and I do, toss in a few cloves of garlic. Let everything roast in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 40mins or just until they are starting to color. Pull them out and let them cool to room temp. Don’t add these hot onto your pastry dough, it’ll be a mess. Let them cool!
Now for the dough. Make sure all your ingredients are as cold as possible. Combine your flour, cubed butter, salt and ice water in a food processor and blitz till it resembles sand. You’ll want to check to see if you have enough moisture in the dough by pinching a small bit in your fingers and making sure it holds together. If it doesn’t add another tablespoon of ice water, pulse a few more times and check again. You want it to be as dry as possible but still able to form a small ball when you pinch it, that’s what will give you a nice, light, flaky crust. Next dump your dough out onto some plastic wrap or into a plastic bag and squeeze it together just so it forms a large ball and then try to shape it into a disk about 1” thick. It makes it much easier to roll out if you have the dough in this disk shape before you refrigerate it. Next, set it in the fridge to chill for about 20mins, while your tomatoes are either cooking or cooling.
When your ready to assemble your galette preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). You want to roll your dough into a roughly circular shape that is about 1/4” thick. Don’t worry about perfection, the ragged edges are what I love about a galette. Totally homemade and rustic. Lay your sheet of dough onto a parchment lined baking tray. Squeeze out your roasted garlic cloves in the center of the dough and arrange your tomatoes on the galette leaving roughly a 1 1/2 – 2” border. Then, gently fold over the edges to overlap the tomato filling. Try to be gentle and use the parchment for some edge folding support if you need to. You want to minimize your dough cracking, but no big deal if it does, just pinch it back together to seal it up. Top with some fresh black pepper, olive oil, a little coarse salt and lots of fresh thyme.
Bake it at 350°F (175°C) for about 25-35 mins, until golden brown. Then let it cool!
For the blue cheese whip crumble your cheese in a small bowl, or smash it up with the back of a fork. It all depends on how creamy or crumbly your cheese is. And, it doesn’t particularly matter what kind of blue cheese you use here, just get something you like and the best quality you can find. I used Smokey Blue from Rouge Creamery, and while it may be $30+ per pound, I only need 2 ounces which was about $4 worth. So with your crumbled, or smashed cheese, in a bowl, top with your heavy whipping cream. Maybe about 1/4 – 1/2 C. Let it sit tightly covered in the fridge for about an hour. Then pull it out and gently whip it into soft peaks.
Next, cut a generous slice of your galette, top with a dollop of you whip and eat up!
Now that’s my kind of food. Just add a simple salad and a nice glass of Chardonnay (preferably from the Sonoma area). Perfect. Boom ????