Tomato heaven

Stepping out of the train that brought me from the airport into the city of Paris I was excited. The last time I had been to Paris was while I was studying nearby, but the view of the classic bistros made me immediately feel home again. Paris was however not my final destination, I just had about an hour before my train would leave. Of course, plenty of time to get a coffee and a crêpe in one of the bistros. Then it was time to leave the City of Lights and travel to the west, to the area which would be home for the next three weeks: Bretagne (Brittany).

Bretagne turned out to be an exciting place to spend time. The area is super diverse, ranging from very rural landscapes with cows and horses to rocky coastlines with beautiful beaches and from medieval towns to enchanted forests. Wherever we were in the area, one thing was always present: the crêpes and their savoury versions, the Bretton buckwheat galette. Whether as a snack during a hike or as a larger meal in a restaurant, they were everywhere. And besides this there was all the seafood, so that we had days with mussels for lunch in a pretty coastal town followed by an afternoon snack of oysters directly at the sea. Still, as good as all those meals might have been, my favourite activity was still going to markets and supermarkets and shop for the fresh produce.. and cheese of course. It was so much of a favourite activity that our fridge in the airbnb was clearly too small. One of the main things that I always find exciting to see in a country like France, more humble than the seafood or good pastries, is all the different types of tomatoes. Instead of just having “regular” red tomatoes, there are all kind of shapes and colours ranging from yellow via bright green to so dark they are almost black. I had been afraid Bretagne would not have such a variety as it is quite in the north. Fortunately it turned out I had been very wrong, Bretagne is apparently one of the main producers of tomatoes in France. So no lack of choice.

After three weeks of good food and French culture, it was a bit disappointing to be back at the small supermarket near our apartment and have the choice significantly cut back. Until I went to the Saturday farmers’ market and got lucky: there happened to be a biological stand selling a large range of tomatoes. With this combination of those tomatoes and having my own kitchen at home, I could not stop myself from working on a celebration of tomatoes. Or to be exact, a celebration of tomatoes and cheese.
The one thing that might be confusing is the name: in this case it is not the Breton galette that is like a crêpe, but the type of galette that is the more rustic, hand-shaped version of a tart.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Galette

Make sure to look for ripe and flavourful tomatoes. The best case is finding tomatoes of different colours, shapes and sizes. If not, any good tomato will do the trick. In this case, I decided to shape the pastry as a galette as this does not require any additional equipment than a normal baking tray and baking paper. If you have a quiche form, of course you can also use this.
The galette is great as a lunch or a light dinner with a salad next to it.

Ingredients (for about 6 portions)

• 200 grams of all purpose flour + a bit extra for rolling the dough
• 120 grams of cold butter
• 70 ml cold water
• Pinch of salt + ½ teaspoon of salt
• 350 grams of tomatoes
• ¾ teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg
• 100 grams of a soft goat cheese
• 50 grams of a hard goat cheese
• Black pepper
• Large teaspoon of herbs de Provence (a herb mixture usually containing dried rosemary, oregano, thyme, savory and marjoram)
• Fresh basil leaves

Start by making the pastry dough. Put the flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Chop the cold butter into small cubes and add to the flour. Use your fingers to mix the flour and butter into a crumbly texture. Add the cold water bit by bit while pressing the flour and butter mixture together, until you have a dough that just holds together. You might not need to add all the water. Try not to overwork the dough, it is a good sign when you can still see little pieces of butter shining through. Shape the dough into a flat disc, wrap in foil and leave in the fridge for at least half an hour to set again.

Meanwhile, slice your tomatoes in thick slices. If you have some cherry tomatoes, just slice them in halves. Put the tomatoes in a large bowl, add the salt and mix together. This will help to drain some of the water out of the tomatoes, so that your galette doesn’t get soggy.

Mix the egg and split into two approximately equal parts. Set one aside, this will be used in the end to brush the pastry. Crumble the soft goat cheese into the other half of the mixed egg. Grate the hard goat cheese and add into this mixture as well, together with a good pinch of black pepper.

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.

Take two sheets of baking paper. Place one on your working surface and dust with a bit of flour. Take the disc of dough out of the fridge, unwrap and lay on the baking paper. Sprinkle some flour over the top as well and place the other sheet of baking paper over the dough. Roll out the dough into a round sheet of about half a centimetre thick and 20cm in diameter. If it is warm in your kitchen, make sure to work quickly before the butter in your dough melts too much and makes the dough sticky and hard to work with. Take the upper sheet off the dough. If you want, you can use a knife to create a more even circle without rough edges. Place the baking sheet with the dough on top of a baking tray. Now, spread the cheese mixture evenly over the dough, leaving about 1,5 centimetre of the rim free. Take your bowl with the tomatoes, that should have lost quite some juice. Take a sheet of kitchen paper and quickly dry the tomato slices before placing them on the dough over the cheese mixture. Lay the tomato slices in circles until you have used them all and sprinkle the herbs de Provence over the top. Wrap the dough that you left empty at the edge of the circle up over the filling, so that the rim of the galette is covered. When you have wrapped the dough all around, take the egg that you have left and brush it over the edges.

Place the galette in the oven for about 40-45 minutes, until golden brown.

Carefully take out of the oven and leave to cool down before serving, so that the cheese filling sets and you can take the galette off the tray without breaking. Decorate with the basil leaves.

Enjoy!