The Yuletide Galette Guide, Vol. 1
Butternut squash, pickled walnut and caramelised onion galette
This year is our first Christmas as parents. As such, approachable recipes that can be prepared in multiple stages – as the baby naps – are the order of the day. Enter my YULETIE GALETTE GUIDE. These recipes are ideal for this time of year, because they aren’t overly complicated and both make for a dinner that reheats brilliantly. This means you can feed visitors easily when they drop by, or shovel a slice in for a quick lunch while you wrap presents and tend to other festive duties. Enjoy!
What actually is a galette? As far as I’m concerned it’s a low-maintenance tart, and it really comes into its own in deep winter. Why? Because on busy December days you just don’t want to be fluting edges of dough, and removing precarious tarts from tins. But you DO want to be eating buttery pastry for dinner… That galette will oblige. It doesn’t need to look perfect, in fact the more jagged its edges the more appealing it looks to eat… Easy to prep, easy to slice, and easy to eat, what more do you want?
This Squash, Onion and Pickled Walnut Galette is my vegetarian offering. You can begin this recipe the day before or the morning of the day you plan to serve it, by making the pastry, roasting the squash and caramelising the onions. This means you just need to roll out the pastry, layer up the filling and bake the galette the day you want to serve it, so you never have to spend of more than an hour in the kitchen at a time… When there are plenty of other things to be ticking off before you’re finally free to rock around the Christmas tree, I think that’s neat!
This recipe uses half a butternut squash, but I find it makes most sense to roast the whole thing if you’re going to be turning your oven on, and you could use the other half of the squash in my Pumpkin and Squash Soup if you fancy another simple-and-good-for-you easy meal to have in your fridge! Hope you enjoy it.
Squash, Onion and Pickled Walnut Galette
For the pastry
180g flour
1 tsp sugar
20g finely grated Red Leicester
150g butter
4 tbsp icy water
For the filling
½ a butternut squash (or other pumpkin, about 500g)
1 and a ½ large or 3 medium onions (about 400g sliced)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sherry
50g butter
1-2 sprigs of rosemary
2 tsp nigella seeds
3 pickled walnuts, chopped (optional)
10g finely grated Red Leicester
To make the pastry, combine the flour, sugar and salt and then coat the butter pieces in flour and work them between your thumbs and fingers. Keep going until you have what looks like coarse breadcrumbs with some larger pieces of butter still in there. Add in the Cheddar cheese, and toss to coat then finally add in the icy water and bring the dough together, you may need an extra tbsp depending on the humidity in your kitchen. Bring the dough together and flatten into a disc, wrapping in clingfilm. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours.
For the filling, start by roasting your squash. Slice into 1cm half moons (I don’t bother to peel it as I like to eat the cooked peel as a snack later). Toss the pieces in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30-40 minutes until fork tender.
Meanwhile, caramelise your onions. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pot and add the olive oil and the sliced onions, along with a pinch of salt. Slowly cook the onions for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are soft and brown. Finish by deglazing the pan with a tbsp of sherry and stir.
Preheat the oven to 180°c. Now roll out the pastry: take a piece of greaseproof paper about 40cm long and place it on your work surface. Remove your dough from its clingfilm and place it on top of the greaseproof paper. Roll it out using a rolling pin and a little flour, turning the dough as you roll to form it into a circle. Keep rolling until it’s a circle of about 35cm in diameter (but there’s no need to be exact!)
Now layer the pastry with the caramelised onions and a little torn rosemary, then the pickled walnuts and finally the roasted butternut squash. I found this easiest to do starting with a triangle of squash in the middle of the galette and working outwards in something approaching a spiral shape. Finish by sprinkling with the nigella seeds. Fold over the pastry edges to seal in the filling then glaze them with a beaten egg, cream or sour cream. Sprinkle with the grated Red Leicester. Then lightly roll the edges with your rolling pin to seal and flatten the galette. Bake for 30-35 mins or until the pastry edges are golden.
1 year ago… Smoked Mackerel Pâté Tart with Scalloped Beetroot
2 years ago… Fishing for Gravadlax at Christmas
See you tomorrow for Vol. 2. of the Yuletide Galette Guide
yummy!