“He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise. ”
Henry David Thoreau
The happy feeling the rustic Peach & Plum Galette gave me was indescribable. High on confidence, I decided to venture further & make what I would possibly love … a savoury version of sorts. Donno what the purists of the pastry world would call this, forgive me if I have erred, but I called this a savoury galette.
Since it’s screaming the colour RED, am sending this off as an entry to Sunshine Mom for her event Food In Colour.
There was spinach & cottage cheese in the fridge which I very much wanted to use, & was in the mood for some sort of experimentation. I used my giant flower shaped cookie cutters to cut out the 6″ shapes…great opportuntiy coz I don’t think I would contemplate 6″ cookies otherwise! A 6″ circle cutter, or a platter would work as a guide beautifully too.
…though the lad preferred it without spinach, which defied the very purpose of nutrition & adding the blessed leaves! Sadly enough, the Popeye magic doesn’t work anymore, so I tried to pass off the spinach tucked underneath as basil! The son pulled every bit out ( though I made him eat the bits)…who did I think I was trying to kid anyway!! Aaaaaaargh!!
The boy loved the sans spinach small bites that I made with the left over dough scraps. Cut them out in shapes of small flowers & hearts!
Savoury Spinach, Tomato & Cheese Galette
Ingredients:
Topping:
Cottage Cheese – 200 gms
Spinach – 1 bunch; tender leaves / chopped
Nutmeg – 1/2 tsp; grated fresh
Garlic – 2-3 cloves ; chopped
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Tomatoes – 3-4 sliced
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Baby Gouda Cheese or any cheese of your choice
Fresh basil for garnishing
Coarse Cornmeal – 1 cup
Flour – 2 1/4 cup
Dried mixed herbs – 1 tbsp
Sea salt- 1 tsp
Butter – 3/4 cup , chilled; cut up
Buttermilk – a little less than 1/2 cup
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Combine flour, cornmeal, herbs and salt in a processor; pulse 2-3 times. Add butter and pulse 4-5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse meal.
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With the processor running, slowing pour the buttermilk through the chute, processing until the dough forms a ball. (Stop adding buttermilk when it begins to clump up around the blades. My dough got a bit sticky so I had to add extra flour in the end. Worked fine eventually.)
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Remove the dough ball and adhere any remaining pieces of dough to it, then divide into 2 balls, wrap in plastic & refrigerate for an hour.
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For the topping, heat oil & saute garlic. Add spinach leaves, nutmeg & generous sprinkling of salt. Saute till the spinach wilts. Allow to cool a bit & then leave in a colander to get rid of the extra liquid; otherwise the pastry will get soggy.
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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Roll out the dough a thin or thick as you like. I like my pastry thin, as I like my pizza base. I got 6 6″ flower/circle shapes out of each ball. If you like the base thick, you’ll get a generous 4 out of each ball. Use the remaining pastry to cut out smaller shapes. Alternatively, you can make savoury petit fours as finger food with the entire dough. Place the pastry on the prepared baking sheet.
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Spread a little spinach on the cut-out base. Grate cottage cheese all over, leaving a 1/2″ border around, top with tomatoes, grate some Gouda, mozzarella or cheddar etc, season with sea salt & freshly ground pepper. garnish with fresh basil.
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Bake at 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Awesome! And the dough has no yeast? Thats even better. now I dont have to wait for the dough to rise 🙂
and cut your son some slack. After looking at all the cheeses, even I would question the introduction of veggies 😀
lovely idea to use the cookie cutter 🙂 and u know what? not only tarini but all shops in all malls are closed on tuesdays here! i lost an entire evening 🙁
This is a gorgeous savory galette, even unbaked it looks beautiful!
This is JUST gorgeous! Love the shape and the color; not to mention the flavors! So attractive. And then you tossed in some Thoreau – I love it. 🙂
What?! That’s outrageous! Spinach is totally yumworthy! Especially in combination with tomatoes and cheese! Kids!!!! 😛
So delicious and beautiful! What is it with men and their veggies??? My son is like that too.
I’m sure you’ll get the better of him Deeba. Don’t give up now..one way or another..;-)
Is this pizza when it’s healthy? Love the shapes
Love the color, shape, cheese, vegetables and everything!
beautiful and delicious looking! Congrats on the anniversary.. missed wishing!
wow that looks amazing deeba!
looks fab deeba…but havent i said that already?? will be a party hit as petits….must try…
Wow this looks so great!! I’d love to take a bite! great idea using the cookie cutter..
Thanks for stopping by my blog deeba. and thanks for your wishes.
You have a lovely blog!
Those look gorgeous, I like spinach just send one right over here to me 🙂
Love how you cut out the shapes …
So beautiful! Your savory galettes look really delicious! I love the big flower ones, it’s like a flower pizza almost!
So simple and delicious!
I’m loving your savory version, Deeba. And doesn’t nutmeg do wonders for spinach? This must have been fabulous!
Wow, looks fabulous the galette. They re cute and eyecatching presentation!
i fell in love with the beautiful, adorable shapes! and i love everything savoury…anytime 🙂
My healthy lal maath sabzi in my lunch box is boring now!! So beautiful – thank you for the yummy galette! I just saw some fruit galettes yesterday, and now I am tempted to try out myself – maybe on friday!
Too pretty for words!
Heyyy…I love your recipes and the awesome pictures u post. Honestly, why dont u start some sort of cooking class but make it on saturdays/sundays so that I can attend. Too busy with my work on other days. I am sure it would be a great success..although come to think of it with 2 kids and a hubby I guess you may not like to do it on weekends 🙁 .Anyway I really enjoy reading the recipes on your blog and destress in my spare time at work by looking at theyummy food pics 🙂
ooh that looks lovely. i am still on leave from fancy cooking though so it’ll have to wait a while!
sent you pics – saw?
love
d
Hi Deeba,
Love this savory version… must be better than pizza, I suppose:) But what is this grated cottage cheese? I made the lasagne other day with the cottage cheese we get here.. it’s more curd consistency with whey and for sure can’t be grated:( may be one can replace with paneer…
Yes Latha, you're right.This is the Indian paneer. But his particular brand, Le Bon, is a very smooth &low fat version,; the others are quite granular.I didnt know your cottage cheese has whey.Is it like ricotta? Liquid won't help coz everything becomes soggy!!
hey
your banana walnut cake link on the side bar doesnt go to the banana walnut cake page – goes to another blog… need recipe coz we just got a bunch of bananas from our garden and they ripened all together too fast and even after distributing most of them, cannot consume all so fast!
also – happy birthday to your blog!
love
d
This is amazing Deeba look so cut. Im thinkig to mak eto the childs at night!!! Love the pans!! xxGloria
This is SO gorgeous Deeba!!
You really are a star baker girl!!
Rosie x
looks really yum!!
Fantastic galettes – and I *love* the mini cookie-cutter ones!
Great flexitarianism article on The Daily Tiffin! I clicked the link to your galette because I love them too! In fact, I just posted one today on my blog – a Zucchini Galette. You have a very beautiful blog, and I see we’ll both be writing for TDT!