Beetroot & feta galette with za’atar and honey – Sami Tamimi

29/04/20214passionfood

Prep time: 35 minutes

Cook time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Serves: Serves 4

What a wonderful galette!! I loved it, all I have to say about this recipe is just do it.

This recipe is taken from “Falastin” coobook. Which I had already shared some recipes of it like :« open cauliflower pies – Sfiha», « butternut squash & saffron soup with caramelised pistachio and herb salsa », « lemon chicken with sumac & Za’atar », or this unforgettable « orange blossom, honey and Baklava semifreddo »

This galette is amazing. The combination of roasted beetroot, feta, ricotta, honey and thyme, is absolutely sublime, all the ingredients go perfectly together. All wrapped up in a flaky golden pastry, perfectly flavoured with chopped thyme and oregano.

Once cooked, the galette is drizzled with olive oil, honey and Za’atar. Serve it with a green salad alongside, and voilà, you have an amazing light meal.

This galette is really simple. You have a quick and easy to make puff pastry, a ricotta filling with some feta, an incredibly delicious layer of caramelised onion and finally sliced roasted beetroots.

A mix of golden beetroot and purple one, looks great, but if like me you can’t find the golden beet, just use the purple one which are the most widely available.

There are several preparations, it takes time for sure, but there are a lots of way to get ahead here. The beetroot can be baked and sliced a day before. You can also make the ricotta filling in advance and the onions too, the dough keeps well in the fridge for up to 2-3 days or frozen for longer.

So make everything in advance, assemble and bake the galette when you want to serve. The galette once assembled can wait in the fridge for a good few hours at least 6.

The perfect recipe if you go for batch cooking.

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Beetroot & feta galette with za’atar and honey - Sami Tamimi

29/04/2021 4passionfood

Prep time: 35 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 50 minutes

Serves: Serves 4

The dough requires at least 1 hour in the fridge.

Ingredients :

The garnish :

2 - 3 small purple beetroots. ( 200g)
1 medium golden beetroot (100g), or (just 300g total of purple beetroots,if you can’t find golden)
15 g unsalted butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, cut into 1/2 cm thick slices (170g)
2 tsp caster sugar
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp Za’atar
5 g parsley leaves, finely chopped
5 g oregano leaves, finely chopped
60 g ricotta, ( next time I’ll put 90g)
2 garlic cloves , crushed
90 g feta, crumbled into roughly 2cm chunks
1 egg, beaten
15 g runny honey
1/2 tsp picked thyme leaves, to garnish
salt & black pepper

Pie crust :

80 g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
35 g wholemeal flour
1-1/2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp flaked sea salt
1 Tbsp oregano leaves, finely chopped
1-1/2 tsp thyme leaves, finely chopped
115 g unsalted butter, fridge cold and cut into 1-1/2cm cubes
60 ml ice-cold water, ( 40 ml for me )

Method :

1)
Preheat the oven to 220°C fan.

Wrap the beetroots individually in foil and bake for 1–1½ hours, or until completely soft and cooked through: timing can vary quite a lot, depending on the size of your beetroots. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then use an old tea towel or clean J-cloth to gently rub away the skins. Slice each beetroot into 2–3mm slices and (if you are starting with a mix of purple and golden) place in two separate bowls. Combine the golden beetroot with ⅛ teaspoon of salt, a good grind of black pepper and ½ teaspoon of oil. Combine the purple beetroot with a good grind of black pepper, ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil. Set both aside until needed. The next time the oven is used it will be 200°C fan, but turn it off for now.
2)
To make the pie crust, put both flours into a large bowl along with the sugar, salt and herbs. Add the butter and use your fingers to rub it into the flour. Don’t overwork the butter – you want chunks of it throughout the dough. Add the water and use your hands to gather the dough together into a shaggy ball.

Transfer to a well-floured surface and roll out into a rough rectangle, about 28 x 18cm.

The dough here is fairly wet and sticky, so you’ll need to flour your hands, rolling pin and work surface often. This is the way it’s meant to be, though (and it makes for a wonderfully short and flaky pastry).

Fold the shorter ends in towards each other so that they meet at the centre.

Then fold the dough in half, like a book.

Roll out the dough once with a rolling pin.

And then just fold once in half again, like a book.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour (or overnight).
3)
Continue with the filling by putting the butter and 1 tablespoon of oil into a medium sauté pan and placing on a medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned.

Add the sugar, vinegar and ⅛ teaspoon of salt and cook for another minute, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes, then stir in 1 teaspoon of za’atar, the parsley and the oregano.
4)
Put the ricotta, garlic, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper into a bowl and set aside.
5)
Transfer the dough to a well-floured sheet of baking parchment (about 30cm square) and roll out to form a rough circle. It will have uneven edges but should be about 28cm wide. Lifting up both the baking parchment and the dough, transfer to a baking tray: you don’t want to be lifting it on to the tray once filled.
6)
Spread the ricotta mixture over the base of the dough, leaving a 1cm rim clear around the edges.

Top with half the feta, then the onions.

Next, and this time leaving a 3½cm rim clear around the outside, top with the beetroot, alternating between purple and golden, with a little overlap between each piece. Wash your hands well (so that the feta does not turn red!), then scatter the remaining feta on top.
7)
Using a knife, make incisions around the edge of the galette: you want these to be about 8cm apart and 2cm deep. Creating these ‘strips’ will allow for the beetroot and cheese to be encased. Taking one strip at a time, fold it over the beetroot, in towards the centre of the galette. Repeat with the next strip, pulling gently to slightly overlap and seal the last fold. Continue this way with the rest of the strips, then refrigerate the galette for 30 minutes (or up to about 6 hours, if you are getting ahead).

Preheat the oven (or lower, if it’s been on since the beetroots were roasting) to 200°C fan (180C for me)

Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg and bake for 30 minutes, or until deeply golden and cooked through.
8)
Drizzle with the honey and the remaining 1½ teaspoons of oil, then scatter over the remaining 2 teaspoons of za’atar.

Transfer to a wire rack so that the bottom remains crisp and leave to cool for about 15 minutes. Garnish with the picked thyme leaves and serve.

Enjoy !!

Tricks & Tips:

There are lots of ways to get ahead here: the beetroot can be baked and sliced a day in advance, the onions can be prepared in full a day ahead and the pie crust also keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days (or frozen for longer) or buy a regular puff pastry from the store if you want.

Once assembled, the pie can wait in the fridge for a good few hours – at least 6 – before going into the oven. Once baked, the pie is best eaten the same day, either slightly warm or at room temperature.

A mix of purple and golden beetroots looks great here, but don’t worry if you can’t find golden. Just increase the purple beetroot to 300g.

Beetroot & feta galette with za’atar and honey – Sami Tamimi