Mediterranean Zucchini Galette
A friend of mine showed up at my office with a bag of produce from his farm. The bag included a rather large zucchini – the official orphan vegetable of Summer. I said, “you could make Zucchini bread”. He answered, “You could… but after you have had zucchini bread several times….”
So, I had a challenge of doing something different with Zucchini and this is what I decided on. A galette (free-form tart) made with Zucchini. I started thinking about styles of dishes. I could do French – a quiche or tart with goat cheese and egg and tarragon or thyme. I could do Italian – a flat tart with tomatoes and pasta and mozzarella. I could head further South and pick up the spices of Morocco and North Africa and that is where I settled. I brought the galette dough from France but settled on the spices of the Mediterranean: fennel, cardamom, red pepper flakes, pine nuts and currents. I used feta for saltiness and two eggs as a binder. It turned out quite yummy.
Recipe: Mediterranean Zucchini Galette
Summary: Sweet and savory with spices from Mediterranean. Zucchini and onions and fennel form the base.
Ingredients
-
- 3 to 4 cups grated Zucchini – the extra moisture squeezed out (see notes)
- 2 large onions – halved, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 fennel bulb – trimmed and thinly sliced
- 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 C Pine Nuts – lightly toasted
- 1 Tablespoon Fennel Seeds – lightly toasted
- 1 teaspoon Cardamon Seeds – lightly toasted
- 1/2 C Currents – cooked with 1/4 water
- A good pinch of Red Pepper flakes
- Salt and Black Pepper (freshly ground)
- 2 eggs – lightly beaten
- 1/2 Cup diced Feta
- 1 recipe Cornmeal Galette Dough (see notes)
Instructions
-
- Preheat the oven to 375F
- Heat the olive oil in a 12″ saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and fennel bulb and a good pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions and fennel are soft and translucent and just starting to caramelize. About 15 minutes.
- In an 8″ saute pan, heat the pine nuts over medium heat until they are lightly toasted and fragrant (about 10 minutes). Transfer to a bowl to cool. Add the fennel seeds and the cardamon seeds (not pods, just the black seeds from inside the pods) to the pan and return to the heat. Toast the seeds until they are fragrant and just start to brown slightly (about 1 minute). Transfer to the bowl with the pine nuts. Add the currents to the pan and 1/4 water and bring to a boil. Cook until the water is evaporated and the currents softened – about 2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl too.
- Once the onion mixture is done, add the pine nuts and spices and currents and the zucchini and stir to combine. Add the red pepper flakes and good grind of black pepper. Taste for salt and spices and adjust. Once you are happy, mix in the two eggs.
- Roll out the galette dough into a 16″ circle. Do this on top of a piece of parchment that you will use to cook the galette. Your life will be much easier if you do this. This is a very soft dough so be ready to patch and fix as you go along.
- Once you have the dough rolled out, fold it up just enough to transfer it to a baking sheet.
- Spread the filling evenly on the dough leaving a 2 inch margin. Fold the edges up and over the filling and shape the galette (see the Fine Cooking article below for instructions).
- Bake the galette for 35 minutes. When the crust starts to brown, sprinkle the feta over the galette and back for another 10 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before slicing.
- Serve with fresh tomatoes and melon for a light Summer dinner.
Quick Notes
The cornmeal galette dough comes from Fine Cooking magazine. You can find the recipe here: Fine Cooking’s Cornmeal Galette Dough
Variations
You could use a traditional pastry crust though I would use one with egg.
My Market Year(s) 
Beware of friends bearing Zucchini!
This looks quite delicious and I will certainly try it at home.