Zucchini and Goat Cheese Galette

It has been an eventful few weeks around here, and although I have not blogged too much, I have been very busy in the kitchen. My sister and her children have been visiting for the past three weeks from Nome, Alaska, so there have been a lot of mouths to feed. Betsy is a great cook herself, so it was fun to work in the kitchen together a bit as well. One thing I made in particular while she was visiting, I declared to be the best thing I ever cooked. The recipe looked so good, that I was even willing to turn the oven on in the oppressive heat we have been having in the Northeast. It seems like whenever Betsy, John, and Sarah are visiting, there is a massive heat wave. Just our little way of reminding Betsy of what summers are like here in the lower 48! My sister and the kids left on Wednesday, and she is anxious to have this recipe. I am anxious to make it again, especially since I still have a whole lot of zucchini and summer squash from the garden, and need to use them up. I adapted this recipe from a recent post of one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. I added some lemon, and used goat cheese instead of ricotta, and it truly was one of the most delicious things ever. You can serve it warm or room temperature, and you might want to make a few, if you are turning on the oven anyway, because the one I made went fast!

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Galette: (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
For the crust:
1 ¼ all purpose flour, chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes
¼ tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled again
¼ cup sour cream
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Zest of ½ lemon
¼ cup ice water

Put flour and salt in a large bowl. Pit pieces of butter in the flour mixture, and using a pastry cutter, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. In a small bowl, mix together sour cream, lemon juice and water, and add to the butter flour mixture, mixing just until barely incorporated. Do not over mix dough. Pat the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
For the filling:
1 large or 2 small zucchini or summer squash (or both!), sliced into ¼ inch thick rounds
2 tsp. olive oil
1 large garlic clove, smashed and minced
½ cup goat cheese
½ cup low fat cream cheese
¼ cup shredded mozzarella (I used fresh mozzarella)
Big bunch of basil leaves, julienned
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Zest of ½ lemon

Spread the zucchini slices over a few layers of paper towels, salt the side facing up, turn over and salt the other side. Let sit for about 20-30 minutes to allow some of the water to seep out. In a bowl, mix the three cheeses, garlic, basil and 1 tsp. olive oil.

Roll the galette dough out onto a floured work surface until it is about 12 inches around. Line a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silicon baking mat, and transfer the crust to the sheet. Spread the cheese mixture on the crust, leaving about a two inch border on all sides. Arrange the zucchini slices beautifully around the crust, and then fold the edges of the crust over slightly, pleating as you go. Drizzle the zucchini with the remaining teaspoon of olive oil.  You can brush the edges of the crust with an egg wash if you would like, though I forgot to do so.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire cooling rack for several minutes, slice and enjoy.

Meals for Veggies and Carnivores Alike: Pureed Garbanzo Beans with Lemon and Olive Oil

About a year and a half ago, our 11 year old daughter told us that she wanted to become a vegetarian. We had seen this day coming for a long time. She had always been an animal lover. ‘Doggie’ was one of Emy’s very first word, and she called every living creature by that name, from actual dogs to the jellyfish in giant tanks she saw at an aquarium at a year old, to toddlers she would see at the grocery store, much to their mothers’ displeasure. When she was about four or five and made the connection that the meat she was eating was actually an animal (that the chicken on the plate was once a chicken running around a farm somewhere, and had been a real living thing), she was devastated. But she loved meat so much, she continued eating it. She and her sister Anna made a pact at that point, a self-imposed ban on the eating of any of the ‘cute’ animals, which they defined as bunnies, lambs, deer and piggies. When they discovered that sausage came from pigs, they changed their minds quickly and resigned themselves to the idea of eating this one cute animal; “Well Anna, I guess we’re eating pigs,” Emy said dejectedly to her little sister.

Since she had struggled with this idea at such an early age, we were not terribly surprised at her decision to start eating a vegetarian diet. We were a little nervous about it, honestly. While Michael and I applauded our daughter’s decision to stand up for something about which she felt strongly, we worried that she would not get the nutrients she needed, and that we would have to rely too much on processed meat substitutes. We worried about protein, iron, and all those other things that eating meat delivered so conveniently. We made some ground rules; being a vegetarian meant that she had to actually eat vegetables, not just avoid meat, she had to respect the decision of other people who chose to eat meat (in other words, I don’t want to hear any comments when I am eating my veal chop, thank you very much!), and she would have to be flexible and make do when we went to friends’ houses for dinner. She has done really well, and we are always looking for ways to support her. I love it when I find things to prepare for dinner which will not entail preparing two separate meals. There is something very lovely about sitting down as a family to the same meal, or at least a very similar one. This meal works well for us. The carnivores in the family are satisfied to have the garbanzo bean puree with a few slices of meat, and our little veggie girl loves it. I am perfectly happy to have this with or without meat, and it makes enough that we have plenty of leftovers.

This is a dish that is good comfort food in the winter or summer. You can serve it with roasted vegetables or roasted meat. Chicken or lamb work exceptionally well. It keeps well, can be made a few days ahead of time, and is very healthy too.

Garbanzo bean puree:

1 pound dry garbanzo beans, soaked overnight
32 ounces chicken stock plus enough water to cover beans by 2 inches
4 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
Juice of 2 lemons
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Place beans in a stock pot with the chicken stock, water, bay leaf, 2 cloves garlic, crushed, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and allow to continue boiling for 4 to 5 minutes. Lower heat to simmer and cover, simmering for about an hour, or until garbanzo beans are very tender. Remove beans, reserving cooking liquid. In 2 batches, puree beans with remaining cloves of garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and enough of the cooking liquid to make it a smooth paste. You can adjust the liquid according to the consistency you like best. This puree is excellent served with roasted vegetable, chicken or lamb.