A little mushroom and ricotta galette was the perfect thing for us this evening – the weather in New York City is balmy (outrageously humid in fact) so we wanted something light to go with a beetroot salad we were taking to the park for our picnic dinner – we love our picnics. We had also been running around all day and I found myself a little short of time. Luckily because of my obsession in trialing all of New York’s deli’s, markets and grocery stores, I had the ingredients at hand.
The beauty in baking a galette is that their style is free form. You can throw all that ‘precison with your pastry’ out the window and go rustic – because it is the way it should be. And even better – it looks good!
The ricotta and herb mixture gives a great, full flavoured base for the mushrooms. I couldn’t resist the urge to go green and added some pinenuts and rocket to the original recipe but it might also work well with a scattering of moroccan olives too (they are the black and wrinkly dry-salt cured olives). The opportunities are endless – as endless as the Indian Summer in New York.
500 grams/1 pound of puff pastry
30 grams/1 ounce butter, coarsely chopped
2 scallions (or golden shallots to Australians), finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
230 grams/8 ounces ricotta
50 grams/1.76 ounces gruyere, coarsely grated
2 tablespoons each of finely chopped thyme, oregano and flat leaf parsley
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
Juice of ½ lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten
180 grams/6 ounces of mixed mushrooms, sliced
Optional – a handful of toasted pinenuts and rocket (arugula)
Preheat the oven to 200c/395f. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick, cut a rough 30cm diameter round, place on parchment paper and then on an oven tray and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Melt 20 grams of butter in a small saucepan, add the shallots and garlic and sauté until tender (2 – 3 minutes), transfer to a bowl and combine with cheeses, herbs, rind and half the egg. Season to taste then spread in an even layer over pastry leaving a 3 cm border.
Melt remaining butter and remove from heat, add lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Scatter mushrooms over the ricotta mixture, drizzle with the butter/lemon mixture and fold in the pastry edges, pleating as you go. Brush edges with the remaining egg and bake until crisp and golden -around 20 to 25 minutes. Scatter with pine nuts and rocket (if you wish)and serve hot or cold.
Source: adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller, August 2010.
© 2010, Michelle. All rights reserved.
