Cherry Tomato Galette
by Aube Giroux on Jul 23, 2013
Dear cherry tomatoes, You light up my summer. You're the best. What would July be without you? Yours truly, Aube
That is the love declaration I've been silently making every time I bite into this cherry tomato galette. I think the tomatoes may be telepathically getting the message.
This year, we planted several varieties in our garden including Black Cherry, Galina, and Green Grape. I can't wait to taste them all but in the meantime, while I patiently wait until the day I can devour them, my expert tomato-growing friends at Wysmykal Farm rescued me from a sad case of tomatoelessness. They loaded me up with cherry tomatoes so colorful, sweet, and bursting with flavor that they could be sold in a candy store.
Perfect for making a cherry tomato galette.
I'm so hooked on this little savory pie that I've made it three days in a row now. It looks a bit like a reverse pizza, with the tomatoes on top of the cheese. Given the chance, I will always choose a flaky tart crust over the chew of pizza dough. It must be the French side of me, I'm a sucker for butter.
The wonderful thing about galettes is that they are meant to be a little rough and rustic-looking, so it doesn't matter too much if they're on the messy side. This galette pastry, adapted from Smitten Kitchen, is so remarkable that everyone who has sunk their teeth into it has commented on its tender flakiness. The original recipe calls for sour cream (feel free to use that) but I was pleased to see that full-fat yogurt does the trick since that's usually what I have on hand. This recipe is very adaptable, you could easily sub the tomatoes for other vegetables. I tried roasted beets in one, and roasted fennel in another, both were wonderful.
One of the secrets to a successful crust is to ensure that your flour and butter are chilled. As you may notice in the video, I like to use my hands to make pie dough and I can usually get away with this because I almost always have cold hands. If you have warm hands, this might heat up the butter too much.
Trust me, you'll need to make this one, it's quite scrumptious. And just screams summertime!
Bon appétit.
Aube Giroux is a food writer and filmmaker who shares her love of cooking on her farm-to-table blog, Kitchen Vignettes.
Aube is a passionate organic gardener and home cook who likes to share the stories of how food gets to our dinner plates. Her work has been shown on television and at international film festivals. Her web series was nominated for a 2014 James Beard Award. In 2012, she was the recipient of Saveur Magazine's Best Food Blog award in the video category.