Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Sweet Onion and Mushroom Galette

I know there are many people don't like mushrooms and/or stinky cheese and there is nothing I can do to change your mind. These pictures surely won't convince you, what with all the brownness and such. So, this post isn't for you. You might want to look away and go read some celebrity gossip blogs for awhile (I recommend this one!).

But, for the rest of you. Yeah, you - the ones who think stinky cheese is the bee's knees, and who think mushrooms are the cat's meow. To you lovely readers, all I can say is WOW. Wow, wow, wow. This galette is one of my favorite things I've ever made. It is bursting with the flavors of mushrooms, sweet onions, balsamic vinegar, creamy pungent taleggio cheese, and a flaky crust that's loaded with butter. I ate 3 pieces, and after writing that last sentence I'm tempted to go back for another. It is THAT GOOD.


A galette is a type of pie, with a free-form crust - which you load up with sweet or savory fillings. My version is kind of like a pizza, but with more of a pastryish crust and way more toppings than you'd find on a flimsy slice of pizza.

You could easily simplify this recipe by using store bought pie crust or puff pastry and I'm sure it would still be awesome. However, this simple crust blew my mind with how light and flaky it was. An absolutely perfect complement to those rich and juicy mushrooms. The sauteed onions and splash of balsamic vinegar added just the right sweet and acidic balance to the galette.


You can't tell because it all melted into the mushrooms, but I also added knobs of a super ripe soft taleggio cheese. I wanted a stinky cheese tonight, but you could radically change the personality of this dish if you used a light, fresh goat cheese instead. Ah hell, who am I kidding? ANY cheese would be good on this! But I think especially brie, gruyere, mozzarella, parmesan, or provolone would taste great.


Sweet Onion and Mushroom Galette
For the crust: (from Deborah Madison via Nirmala's Cooking Blog)
2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into smaller chunks
3/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp butter
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
A whole bunch of mixed mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (I used one package wild mushrooms, 1 package criminis, and 1 package button mushrooms)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried thyme (or 2-3 Tbsp fresh)
salt and pepper
Ripe soft cheese, like taleggio
1 egg, beaten

1. First, make the crust.
Put first four ingredients in a bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes. You want to keep the dough as cold as possible until you put it in the oven, because that will make it puff up and get flaky.

Remove the bowl from the freezer and put the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to combine, then add ice water a little at a time until it holds together when you pinch it.

Remove dough from food processor, work the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for another 15 minutes.

2. Then make the filling.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil and butter. Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes or until soft, but not browned. Add all your mushrooms and thyme and cook for another 8-10 minutes until they're nice and brown and the liquid has cooked out. Add balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper and continue to cook until liquid has again been absorbed.

3. Finally, assemble your galette.
Remove dough from freezer and roll out on floured counter to a large circle about 1/8 inch thick. Fold in four and transfer to a baking stone or parchment covered baking sheet. Pour your filling into the middle and spread it out, leaving 1.5 - 2 inches around the edge.

Fold up all the edges and pinch to hold. Dot the top with knobs of your ripe cheese and brush the edges of your dough with the egg wash.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

ENJOY!

1 comment:

  1. sounds like amazing winter comfort food! I, too, love mushrooms and stinky cheese. :)

    ReplyDelete