Burst tomato galette

Burst cherry tomatoes, doesn’t that just sound like summer goodness? Just say that with your eyes closed, and I’ll bet you can almost taste them popping on your tongue…

This recipe comes via S (via the Smitten Kitchen, who has some pretty yummy stuff out there). Not only does it take advantage of our fresh cherry tomatoes, but we also throw in some zucchini and corn for good measure. Summer in a pie… or a tart.

Burst Tomato Galette (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Pastry:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, or good quality lard, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup ice water

Filling:
Splash of olive oil
3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
1-2 ears corn, cut from the cob (1-2 cups)
1 small zucchini or summer squash, diced (about 1 cup)
Handful of fresh herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, chives… whatever you’ve got)
Salt and pepper

To make the dough, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter or lard to the dough and cut in, using a pastry blender or your fingertips, until the mixture looks sandy. Add the water and stir gently until large lumps form. Form the lumps into a ball, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the filling, add a swirl of olive oil, tomatoes, salt and pepper to a saute pan then cover and heat on medium-high. Flip the tomatoes every minute or so. They’ll start to burst pretty quickly – when most of them have, turn the heat down to medium, and add the zucchini and corn. Saute for a couple minutes, until softened up a bit. Remove from heat, and stir in any herbs. Transfer mixture to a large plate and spread it out, so that it will cool faster – you can’t put the piping hot mix into the dough!

Heat oven to 400 F. On a floured counter, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. The nice thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t need to look perfect; I hate rolling out pie dough, and this is very forgiving since it all just kinda gets bunched up in the end. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet – it’s easier for me to partially roll the dough onto the rolling pin in order to move it. Spoon the tomato mixture into the center of the dough, leaving a couple inches clear around the edges. It’s best here to use a slotted spoon, so you don’t take as much juice with you – you don’t want a wet dough. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit, and leaving the center open.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the top crust is golden brown. Let it cool for a few minutes, slice it up, and top with some shaved parmesan to serve.