Who would have thought I would do a carrot galette? Not I! Here is the journey to this carrot galette which I quite like.
Flavour
About two months ago now, I ventured into a book shop and came out with the last cookbook of Yotam Ottolenghi “Flavour”. I like how the author brings flavours together using generally nothing more than what is already in your pantry. 
The first one we did was the Aubergine (eggplant) with herbs and crispy garlic. Eggplant dishes have become a frequent happening since my daughter reconciliated with it and realised she had here the opportunity for adding a lot of garlic!
From a pumpkin galette to a carrot galette
One of the recipes which appealed to me was the Butternut, orange and sage galette. Since the pastry dough makes two galettes, I started with the first one, initially thinking I would freeze the leftover pastry for later. The recipe encloses in a crispy pastry some roasted carrots and roasted sliced pumpkin on a bed of garlic and shallots flavoured mascarpone. A sticky orange glaze brings in an additional dimension. While I liked it, my family didn’t like it as much because the glaze was a bit too strong for them and they aren’t fans of pumpkin.
Take two, the next day (I had not yet frozen the remaining pastry), by changing the content to carrots only, the glaze to less orange but a bit more lemon and less sweetness in the glaze. I kept the garlic and shallot mix with the glaze, kept the pastry dough, roasted carrots always work. Finally, I swaped sage for thyme. HERE is the recipe.
This carrot, lemon and thyme galette is derived from the Butternut, orange and sage galette from Yotam Ottolenghi “Flavour” book. The later recipe is widely available online, a link which has the original photography is HERE.
When I made the original recipe the galette was not given an ovation by the younger generation, so I pastry of this recipe. This carrot galette Ottolenghi inspired version is quite delicious.
Note that the dought is excellent and can be used for other galettes.
Ingredients:
Pastry:
- 100 g of plain flour
- 30 g whole-wheat flour (else use plain flour)
- 20 g of dry polenta and 1/4 cup of water
- 1 1/2 tsp of sugar
- 3/4 tsp flaked sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 20 mL olive oil
- 80 g unsalted butter, fridge cold and cut into 1.5 cm cubes
- 60 mL ice-cold water
Galette filling:
- 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 5 mm rounds
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- a few sprigs of thyme
- One head of garlic (keep the skins on), top fifth cut off to just expose the cloves
- 1 large shallot or a couple of smaller ones (160g), skin on
- 1/2 lemon juice and half the juice of an orange (omit the orange and replace by water if you don’t have any)
- 30 mL maple syrup
- 125 g of mascarpone
- 1 small egg beaten
- salt, pepper, thyme
Method:
Pastry
- Mix together both flours, the polenta and water, sugar, salt, pepper and olive oil in a large bowl.
- Add the butter and incorporate by lightly squashing each cube between your fingers. Don’t over-work; you want chunks throughout the dough. Add the water and use your hands to gather the dough together — it will be quite sticky. Transfer to a well-floured work surface and roll into a 28 x 18 cm rectangle, dusting the rolling pin, surface, and pastry as you go.
- Fold the longer ends toward each other so they meet at the centre and roll out once. Fold the shorter ends the same way, roll out once, then fold in half to make a square.
- Form the dough into a 14 cm wide circle, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Galette
- Preheat the oven to 220°C fan-forced. Line one large baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the carrots with the 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp of thyme, 1 tsp salt, and plenty of pepper. Spread out on the prepared baking sheet.
- Drizzle the garlic head and shallot with a little oil, wrap individually in aluminum foil, and add to the sheet. Roast the carrots for 25 minutes, or until golden brown, and remove from the oven. Continue to roast the garlic and shallot for 15 minutes more, then set aside. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic and shallot from their papery skins and finely chop.
- Decrease the oven temperature to 200°C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and roll out to a 12-inch (30 cm) circle, dusting your rolling pin as you go. Gently lift the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Put the orange juice, lemon juice and maple syrup into a small saucepan on medium- high heat and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid reduces to the consistency of a thickened, sticky maple syrup.
- Put the mascarpone into a bowl. Extract the cooked shallot and cooked garlic from their shells, add lemon zest and a few drops of lemon juice. Season with a pinch of salt and plenty of pepper and stir everything together well.
- Spread the mascarpone mixture over the dough, leaving a 4 cm rim around the edge. Cover with the carrots, then drizzle with the syrup. Fold the pastry up and over the vegetables, brush the pastry with the egg, and bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool for 20 minutes, then scatter with a bit of thyme before serving.
This pepper apple and strawberry crumble is a twist on the traditional recipe of the crumble. Be ready for a radical change in taste! The recipe is inspired from a bakes apple recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi. The pepper is not at all overpowering, it brings up a different flavour combination.
Ingredients:
- 4 apples (3 if quite large) – all apples are good, although the granny smith are likely to be a bit bitter (not my favourite)
- 1 punnet of strawberries
- 1 teaspoon of pink peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
- Black cracked pepper
- for the crumble: 150 g of flour, 75 g of soft butter, 60 g of caster sugar
- 1/2 cup of orange juice (or water)
- 1 tablespoon of pistachio (shells removed)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C.
- Prepare the crumble top: place sugar, flour and sugar in a bowl and rub until the ingredients are combined in a rough sand (or gravel to be more exact!). Cut the pistachios with a large knife and set aside.
- Peel and cut the apples in small pieces. Rinse the strawberries and cut in quarters. Place the fruits in the baking tray with the orange juice. add the cinnamon. Toss.
- Crack the black pepper all over (a bit les than for a steak) and sprinkle the pink peppercorn all around.
- Sprinkle the crumble all over, then the pistachios.
- Bake until golden brown on top.
- Serve on its own or with a creme anglaise.
