Meet your new favorite condiment.
Tomato-ginger jam is my new obsession. Savory yet sweet, lightly spiced with ginger and kicking with chili . . . I want to slather it on toast, use it to glaze a ham . . . or eat it straight out of the jar, by the spoonful.
Seriously, you need to try it. And while you have it kicking around the refrigerator, why not turn it into a galette?
A galette is the perfect way to show off all your summer produce. A cross between a pie and a flatbread, it can be filled with almost whatever fruit or vegetable you like, sweet or savory, or, as is the case here, both!
This Jammy Tomato-Ginger Galette is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before. Featuring crisp, buttery pastry crusted in earthy sesame seeds and a tangy goat cheese filling beneath the spicy-sweet jam, it perfectly balances between the sweet and the savory. It’s elegant enough to serve at a party, but rustic enough to take on a picnic or even put out at a backyard barbecue. You could serve it as an appetizer (in which case, I recommend serving it alongside a little arugula salad garnished with more goat cheese!) or even as a slightly savory dessert. No matter when and where you serve it, your friends and family will be going back for another slice!
This galette takes slightly more effort than some of my other recipes. A few components—both the jam and the galette dough—need to be prepped separately before they can be assembled and baked off. However, both are very simple to make and can be made in advance and stored for days in the refrigerator or freezer. When you want to bake, assembling your galette will be a piece of cake . . . or pie . . . well, it will be as easy as pie . . . or as easy as a galette?
Moving on.
Once you’ve tasted this galette, I know you’ll be as obsessed as I am! It’s that time of year when tomatoes are literally rolling off supermarket shelves and farm stand counters, so get yourself some and get jamming!
Enjoy!
Jammy Tomato-Ginger Galette
Serves 6
For the crust:
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled (1/2 cup)
4 oz all-purpose flour (1 scant cup)
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
¼ cup ice water
Sesame seeds, optional
1 egg, beaten, for glazing
For the tomato ginger jam:
2 pounds ripe tomatoes, chopped
85 g brown sugar (~ ½ cup)
4 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
To assemble:
2-3 ripe tomatoes, sliced thinly
3 ounces cream cheese
3 ounces goat cheese, plus additional for topping
Arugula, to serve
Special equipment: baking sheet, rolling pin, plastic wrap.
Method
For the crust:
Line a large baking sheet with plastic wrap and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.
Slice the chilled butter into cubes. In a bowl, toss together flour and salt until thoroughly mixed, then add the butter. Working quickly, toss the butter cubes in the flour so they are coated and smash flat. Don’t rub the butter into the flour too much or allow it to break up or melt; you want big chunks of butter left in this dough.
Pour in the ice water and stir together with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms, pulling away from the side of the bowl. Don’t knead. You should still see big chunks of butter in the mixture. Gather the dough together into a ball and transfer to a heavily floured board.
Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a long rectangle with the short end facing you, then fold it in thirds like you would a business letter. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the short end is facing you again, and roll out again. Repeat the folding.
(Feel free to add more flour to prevent sticking. If the butter begins to melt, transfer the dough to the refrigerator in a covered container until it is cold enough to continue working with without the butter melting.)
Roll out for a third time, this time into a wide circle about the thickness of a coin. Fold into quarters, lift, and place on prepared baking sheet. Unfold and cover with a second layer of plastic wrap. Seal the edges of the plastic wrap and chill at least one hour.*
For the tomato ginger jam:
Stir all ingredients together in a large saucepot and bring to a boil on the stove over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer with the lid off, stirring occasionally, for an hour, until the excess liquid has evaporated and the mixture has reduced to a jammy consistency.
Remove from heat and let cool completely, then store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
To assemble and bake:
Sprinkle sliced tomatoes with kosher salt to release some juice- this decreases the chance of soggy pastry! In a small bowl, beat together 3 ounces goat cheese and cream cheese until smooth and spreadable.
Remove chilled crust from the refrigerator and, still wrapped in the plastic wrap, place on the counter, sesame seed-side-up. Roll over lightly with a rolling pin to even out thickness and press any stray seeds into the crust, then remove the top plastic wrap sheet and invert the crust back onto the baking sheet. (The sesame seed side should be on the bottom now.) Remove the remaining layer of plastic wrap.
Spread the cheese mixture in an even circle in the center of the galette, leaving 1-inch board on all sides. Carefully spread over a layer of jam and shingle sliced tomatoes over top. Fold the edges of the crust toward the center. Glaze with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Chill in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Top with goat cheese crumbles and arugula, and serve at room temperature.
*At this point, the galette crust can also be frozen, flat, for up to a month. Thaw in the refrigerator before using.
Originally posted July 29, 2020.
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