Air mail
Ahhhhh! Look what came in the mail today all the way from the U.K.
Yup, that’s right! It’s a pasty maker! Guess I should go buy some pastry and give it a go (you know, since we all know how making the stuff myself goes). I’m so excited.
Thanks Stepfordtart! Cheers to online communities/international friendship!
Finding giants
Boy, is it HOT! Today we reached temps of 102. I’m not even going to mention the humidity. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper. And then out of the blue, the skies darkened and opened up until the streets were flooded, lightening and thunder wrestling outside the windows. Naturally, this was the perfect time to crank up the oven and bake up a little snack.
Do you see that? That there is a giant zucchini someone brought me home today. Holy smokes, it’s the size of my thigh! Just look at it! Enormous! Obviously, there’s some kind of epidemic going on around here. The vegetables are taking over, and not just here either. It seems my cousin has had some giants growing in her garden as well.
Wow
It’s bigger than a soda bottle
I’m telling you, I didn’t even know what to do with it. I mean, where do you even begin with something so large? After a little research, I decided to make a galette. Have you ever heard of a galette? Basically, a galette is a free form pastry found in French cuisine that can be either sweet or savory. In my opinion, it resembles a pie with extra large edges folded over with an open center. Rustic food at it’s finest! oh, how I love rustic food. I may sound crazy, but rustic food reminds me of living out in the country. Or maybe in the old country. It gives me such a feeling of comfort and contentment. It makes me think of homemade bread baking in the oven, stew on the stove, and family gathered around the table laughing and telling stories, impatiently waiting to be fed. It reminds me of grandparents and hard work and doing things the old way as opposed to the quick, easy way. It makes me want to make some ravioli from scratch. Mmm mm mmm!
But today we aren’t making ravioli. We’ll save that for later. No, today we are making galettes- mini galettes to be specific. I discovered this recipe while browsing through Smitten Kitchen’s site (which can be found here under my foodies page) and decided to give it a go with my own twist. You see, galettes are made with pastry dough and we all know how well pastry dough and I get along (not!). Well, I had a can of croissant dough in the fridge begging to be baked up so I decided to be a little innovative. Some flour and a few rolls with my handy dandy rolling pin helped me out with the pastry situation without the added frustration of trying to make it myself. I guess not all things are made from scratch in this household- not yet anyway!
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen (is it weird I always say smitten kitten in my head?)
Ingredients:
- 1 can croissant rolls
- 1/2 cup ricotta
- 1/2 cup parmesan
- 1/4 cup mozzarella
- Basil (fresh is better but dried will do)
- 1 tbs garlic
- 1 egg
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- Olive oil
- Zucchini
- Baby asparagus
In a small bowl, we’re gonna mix together all our cheeses. Make sure you really get in there because parmesan is rather crumbling and will try to escape the whole process by sticking to the bottom of your bowl. But we know better
Season cheese mixture with garlic, salt, pepper, and basil. Do this to your own personal tastes. I like really bold flavors so I tend to add…extra! Add a tbs olive oil while your at it
Next it’s time to slice up the zucchini. For obvious reason, I don’t need to slice that much. My plant is huge and the croissants aren’t going to give me that much dough. Anyway, once your zucchini is sliced up, lay it out on a paper towel and salt those babies up. This is going to pull the moisture out of your little zucchini disks. After 30 minutes (though I only wait for as long as it took the oven to preheat0, blot with the paper towel
It’s time for the fun part! Sprinkle flour onto your counter. Pop open your can of croissants. Mine yielded 8, which will give us four mini galettes. Using your rolling pin and your god-given fingers, take two triangles and make them into one square so you end up with something like this. See the difference?
Spread squares with cheese mixture. Oh yeah, now would be a good time to chop up your baby asparagus. Put that on top of the cheese
Top asparagus with blotted zucchini. You can chop it up if you like. Fold the edges over as best you can
Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over each galette, and if your as much of a garlic lover as I am, put some of that on top too. Brush your dough with some egg wash (just an egg beaten ). Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes
Voila! Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Next time, I want to try half ricotta and half cream cheese for a tangier flavor. But feel free to experiment with your favorite cheeses. Who doesn’t love cheese?
Tijuana
armadillas 