Tomato season is my favorite time of summer. There is nothing better than picking a fresh tomato right off the vine and biting into it like an apple. Forced to lean forward as tomato juice and seeds drip down my chin and arm, trying to avoid staining my shirt. My mom always had a huge garden growing up, and half of it was tomatoes, well it always seemed like half of it was tomatoes, unless my dad started planting stuff first, then it was half potatoes….
As a kid, one of my summer chores was weeding the garden. I hated the task; the blisters from the hoe, the Idaho dessert sun. Not how I wanted to spend my summer! But when those tiny yellow flowers on the tomato plants yielded small green globes and the blazing sun ripened those green tomatoes to a deep, rich red, the blisters and sweat were worth it! Garden fresh tomatoes do NOT compare to store bought (hot house) tomatoes. It’s pure bliss to eat a tomato that is still warm from the sun.
The tomatoes I used for the galette are from my mom’s garden. I currently don’t have garden. Sad! But there is a lonely spot in our backyard that it just begging for a garden. Kris said he would build me raised garden beds, so now it’s in writing for all the world to see, and must happen! I had to bug my mom several times for some tomatoes from her garden. She doesn’t have as big of a garden as she used to at my parents’ new house and is selective on giving out her tomatoes, so when she ended up giving me more than we could eat, I decided to make a galette to use them up before they started to rot and the fruit flies emerged.
Galette is French. Pronounced “ga – let”. I keep wanting to say “ja – lay” and sound all fancy, but it’s “ga – let”. Crostata is Italian and tart is the American easy way to say it. Galette dough is more forgiving than pie dough, a galette doesn’t have to be perfect either. Think rustic tart. It can be sweet or savory. I tried to few different recipes and adapted mine from the Food Network. I like the yogurt, makes the dough more forgiving. I ended up with a light flakey crust. Don’t skimp on the butter! Look at those chunks of butter in the dough!
I roasted the tomatoes because tomatoes are 94% water. If I’d used fresh tomatoes all that water would have soaked directly into the dough and made a big soggy mess. And roasted tomatoes are food of the gods, seriously. Roasting tomatoes increased their depth of flavor and adds a savoriness (is that a real word? spellcheck didn’t autocorrect…) that will leave your tastebuds begging for more. I roasted garlic with the tomatoes too, because, well, I have a love affair with garlic. And it’s a super food! With the final product, think of a tomato pizza pie. Even my brother, who professes to not like tomatoes, said the roasted tomato galette was “pretty good” and that the house smelled amazing.
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup 1 stick of very cold unsalted butter (roughly chop it with a chef knife into dimes size pieces)
- 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp ice water Make a cup of ice water, then measure out 1/4 cup
- 1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 2-2 1/2 pounds fresh tomatoes sliced
- 4- 10 cloves of garlic depending on how much you want to smell like garlic the next day 🙂
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese the stinkier the better
- 1 egg beaten
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Mix flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add in chopped butter. Mix with a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers. I prefer to use my fingers, mixing in the butter by hand with the flour until you have pea-sized pieces of butter. Mix ice water and yogurt together in a small bowl. Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture. Stir to form dough. The dough will be somewhat sticky and craggily. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Can be made up to 24 hours a head of time.
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While the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Arrange sliced tomatoes and garlic cloves in a single layer on cookie sheets. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bake 45 minutes, checking halfway through, turn if necessary. Your kitchen will smell amazing after about 15 minutes! Let the tomatoes cool for 15-30 minutes.
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Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat it. Roll out the chilled dough into a circle on a heavily floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Place half of roasted tomatoes and garlic onto the center of the dough, leaving a 2-3 inch boarder. Top with parmesan cheese and then the rest of the roasted tomatoes and garlic. Fold the edges of the dough over onto the tomatoes. Brush lightly with beaten egg. Transfer the uncooked galette onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet or the preheated pizza stone. Bake for 40 minutes, checking halfway through. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.
Makes 8 servings for a side dish or appetizer. 4 servings when served as a main dish.
Tomato-licious!