Mushroom and Onion Galette

Love, love, LOVE three day weekends! Almost as much as I love this mushroom and onion galette? I'm only partly kidding. I made this yesterday and when I look in the fridge today, there's only one slice left. Definitely not the slice in that picture above.

Why are galettes so good? To me, it's because you can fill them with almost anything, savory or sweet, and expect a fantastic result. This time, I decided to go with one of my favorite combination's: sautéed mushrooms and onion with herbs, Greek yogurt and, to add a touch of sweetness, the rest of an acorn squash I had left over. When thinking of other ideas, just go with whatever would make a good pastry. Some possibilities are zucchini and ricotta, sliced peaches tossed with lemon juice, potato with fresh corn and blue cheese, or even mac n cheese for a very American version of this French classic (not saying that I wouldn't kill for gooey cheese wrapped in flaky dough).  If you stumble across an amazing combination, I would love to hear about it!

I recommend slicing your ingredients thinly and pre-cooking vegetables. This will ensure that everything cooks evenly and completely in the oven. It is also important for getting rid of the high water content in many vegetables that would lead to soggy pastry. As for the pastry....it is a little finicky to make. Getting that perfect flaky crust is all about meticulously keeping your ingredients cold. Do this by popping things in and out of the freezer as you go. You should also use frozen sticks of butter, chopped up into 1/4 or smaller cubes before lightly mixed into the dry ingredients. For the wet ingredients, use ice water (I melt a few ice cubes quickly in the microwave) with yogurt and lemon juice straight from the refrigerator. Believe me, once you slice into the crust and hear a wonderful crunching sound while flaky pieces fall away onto the cutting board...it will all have been worth it.

This pastry may be a runner-up on beauty, but it has a rustic and flavorful charm that will win you over in seconds. I love, love.....

You know the rest <3

Mushroom and Onion Galette
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:

• Half of one acorn squash
• 1 large onion
• 8 oz mushrooms (any variety, I used white)
• 1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• 1 tsp dried dill

Directions

To make the pastry:

1. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Put bowl in the freezer while you chop frozen butter into 1/4 or smaller cubes.
2. Take bowl out of freezer and make a well in the middle of the flour. Place butter into that well and use a pastry blender (or a fork) to cut the butter into the flour. The result will look lumpy and not really like dough. Put bowl back into the freezer.
3. In a second bowl, whisk together sour cream/Greek yogurt, water and lemon juice. Take bowl out of freezer and mix wet ingredients into the flour-butter mixture until all of the loose flour has been incorporated. It will still look lumpy.
4. Pat the dough into a ball, cover with plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour (I recommend putting together the filling while the dough is resting).

To make the filling:

1. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add thinly sliced onions and mushrooms along with the parsley, thyme, tarragon and dill. Cook for several minutes until you can no longer see water on the bottom of the pan. Set onion, mushroom and herb mixture aside in bowl to cool.
2. Use a large, un-serrated knife to cute acorn squash into 1/2 inch cubes. In another skillet, melt 3 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add chopped acorn squash and cook until tender.
3. Stir sour cream/Greek yogurt into cooled onion, mushroom and herb mixture.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5. Take pastry dough out of the refrigerator and place on top of a well floured cutting board. Roll the dough out into a thin circle about 12 inches in diameter. Carefully transfer the dough to a large cookie sheet sprayed with oil (Note: if you want a prettier looking galette, you can also put the dough into a tart pan with crimped edges or even a regular pie pan).
6. Pile the onion, mushroom, herb, and sour cream/Greek yogurt mixture in the middle of the dough and spread it out with a knife until about 3-4 inches away from the edge. Sprinkle the pieces of acorn squash on top.
7. Carefully slide a large, un-serrated knife under one edge of the dough and flip it over the filling. Do this with the rest of the dough. The pastry will have overlapping edges of crust and look roughly circular still.
8. Melt remaining 1 tbsp of butter and, using a brush or the back of a spoon, wash the crust of the galette.
9. Bake on the bottom rack for 10 minutes, to crisp up the bottom crust of the galette. Then move to the middle rack and bake for 15-20 more minutes until edges are golden brown.

PS:

I found these relatives of lychee, called rambutan, at the local Asian grocery store. A coworker of mine showed them to me over the summer and I think they are so cool.

Have fun cooking!