Tomato Galette

I know, I know ... I'm behind on posting and when I finally do get around to posting here I am putting up another variation on a tomato tart. I assure you this one is worth it though. How could you go wrong in fact with a sundried tomato paste, goat cheese, and fresh tomato slices? The original recipe calls for puff pastry sheets, but I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe for galette crust I found a few months ago. This time around I used yogurt (I'm still trying to use up the giant tub of Mediterranean plain yogurt leftover from the grapefruit yogurt cake) instead of sour cream and the crust was so much easier to roll out. I think I may start using yogurt for all my crusts and doughs given the success I've been having lately.

My only problem with this recipe is it is a bit watery. I tried draining the tomatoes while the crust was resting, but it just didn't do enough (of course I was using ridiculously juicy homegrown tomatoes courtesy of a wonderful friend). I can think of two things to try to combat the overflowing tomato juices next time around (1) sprinkle with breadcrumbs, but then you might lose some of the beauty of the dish or (2) oven roast the tomatoes a little before cooking. I'm leaning towards (2) if/when I make this recipe again. Other changes to the recipe ... I skipped on the oregano because I didn't have any fresh on hand and I was using goat cheese with herbs. I also used the full 125g container of goat cheese. Instead of a fresh red chili pepper, I just added a few dried chili flakes to the sundried tomato paste. I also did a quick egg wash on the crust so it would brown nicely.

Overall the end result was delicious and a thing of beauty. I love tomato season!

Tomato Galette (from Yotam Ottolenghi)
Crust from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
Crust (or you could use 375g puff pastry)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup yogurt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water
sundried paste
10 sun-dried tomatoes from a jar
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes (or more to taste)
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
rest
125g goat's cheese, crumbled
450g red, yellow or green tomatoes of various sizes, sliced 2mm thick
8 stalks fresh thyme
Olive oil
1 egg yolk

1. Place the flour in a large bowl and put in the freezer for 30 minutes. Cut the butter into cubes and put back in the fridge. If you don't have access to cold water, stick 1/4 cup water in a small bowl and put in the freezer as well (not long enough for it to freeze though!).
2. Meanwhile, slice the tomatoes and either lightly salt and place on a rack to drain or oven roast at a low temperature (checking to make sure they don't burn! see recipe notes about sogginess issues).
3. Whisk together the flour and salt.
4. Sprinkle bits of butter over dough and using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest pieces of butter the size of tiny peas.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture.
6. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
7. Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the sundried paste in the small bowl of a food processor and process to a rough paste; if necessary, add a little oil from the tomato jar to bring it together.
8. Preheat oven to 400F.
9. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round (I did this on parchment paper and then just transferred the parchment paper to the baking dish once everything was on it).
10. Spread a thin layer of the tomato paste over the pastry, leaving a border about 2 inches from the edge.
11. Sprinkle with the goat's cheese, and arrange the tomatoes on top, slightly overlapping but not too precisely. Make sure the tomato paste is covered by fresh tomatoes because it tends to burn.
12. Drop the thyme stalks over the tomatoes and drizzle with a little olive oil.
13. Fold the border over the filling, pleating to make it fit.
13. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk and 1 tsp water. Brush the crust with the egg wash.
14. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. (If using a puff pastry, your baking time may be much less. 15 minutes per the original recipe.)