Time to get festive with this Leek Gallette recipe
During the early stages of autumn I was really into making apple galettes as bramley apples were in season. As a development of this recipe I decided to create a savoury version with some rye flour in the pastry. When I was wee, one of my favourite meals was this leek tart that my father would make, this was wholly inspired by that.
The galette shape itself is a fantastic vehicle for flavours and the pastry can really handle quite a lot of wet ingredients as demonstrated by the apples and the creme fraiche filling used for this leek version – I have also seen a fresh heirloom tomato filling which I will definitely be trying in the future. You will be surprised at how easily it is to make this wonderful flakey pastry. The method is a bit hard to describe with words (I have tried below), visuals are much better, so I will direct you to Carla’s video for Bon Appetit that shows the pastry roll out method in full - https://youtu.be/F7VOCR3wWhM?t=45
If pastry ain’t for you, you can also make this with store bought shortcrust pastry.
Serves 4 people with sides (I suggest a leafy salad and some puy lentils tossed in a vinaigrette)
Ingredients:
Pastry:
115g white flour
25g rye flour
90 g butter
4 - 5 tbsp of cold water (enough to combine the dough)
1 whisked egg for an egg wash before baking
Fillings:
2 substantial leeks (add more if yours are on the slim side)
3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil to coat the pan
1 tsp oregano
Pinch of salt
Lots of pepper
100g creme fraiche
45g grated cheddar (or gruyere, any good melty cheese would work)
Half a tsp dijon mustard
Pinch of salt
Lots of pepper
Method:
1. Add flour to a bowl, cut up your butter into 6 pieces and toss them in the flour. Pour this out onto your worktop and roll out the butter into flat strips (NB see video and pictures).
2. Put the mixture back into a bowl and add your cold water, combine loosely. Pour the mixture back on the worktop and make it a rectangular shape. Roll it out flat again, fold the top third over the middle with a bench scraper and then fold the bottom third over the middle, turn it 90 degrees and roll out into a long rectangle again. Repeat this process 5-6 times until the dough is layered and holds together.
3. Push the dough into a round, flat shape and put cling film around it, let it rest in the fridge until you are ready to bake.
4. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees while you’re preparing the fillings. Prepare a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
5. Wash and chop the leeks, saute in a pan with olive oil until soft and translucent. Add crushed and chopped garlic along with the oregano and seasoning. Remove the leeks from the pan and set aside for later.
6. In a bowl combine the creme fraiche, mustard, seasoning and cheese. Set aside for later (you can store it in the fridge if you’re pre-preparing).
7. Take your dough out of the fridge, roll it out to be about 30cm across in a rough circle. I roll it out on the cling film, making it much easier to lift onto the baking tray. The nice thing about this pastry is that it doesn’t need to be particularly precise around the edges.
8. Gently put the pastry onto the baking tray (remove the cling film!) and firstly add the creme fraiche filling in the middle with about 1.5-2 inches of pastry border. Place all the leeks on top of that, flatten them out a bit.
9. Fold the empty edges in over the filling leaving a lovely window in the middle where the leeks will peak out, egg wash the pastry edges and bake for 40-50 mins until golden. Cool for 20 mins at least, eat warm or cold.
Enjoy!
Sofie is a member at Studio 70 and writes a monthly food blog here. She loves making and sharing food with the people she loves - for her, it is the ultimate expression of kindness and care.