Swiss chard galette with blue cheese & sumac – Ottolenghi

08/11/20214passionfood

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Serves: Serve 4 as a starter or main course depending on what you serve with it .

I’m a big cheese lover, proof I had a raclette party twice in October. I know it’s a lot of calories, don’t worry it was during my cheating day ( actually my hubby said it’s everyday my cheating day ) .
But I have to say, that as much as I love cheese as much I hate blue cheese. The recipe is from Ottolenghi, so I said to myself he does miracles with his way to cook, there is no doubt that he can turn a blue cheese hater into a fan of it. Well needless to say I wasn’t disappointed.

This Swiss chard galette is just sublime, I loved it. Along with Swiss chard and blue cheese, as the name kind of gives away, there is also, caramelized onion, raisins and pine nuts, so there are a lot of great flavours and an amazing sweet and savoury mix. The filling is spread on a layer of ricotta and crumbled blue cheese. Everything is wrapped up in a flaky and buttery pastry, perfectly flavoured with thyme and oregano. The dough here is the star of this recipe, the same used for the “Beetroot & Feta galette with za’atar and honey”.

How to go ahead of time ?

There are several preparations, it takes time, but there are a lots of ways to get ahead here. You can make caramelized onion and the Swiss chard filling a day before. The dough keeps well in the fridges 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.

This Swiss chard galette is perfect to serve for a brunch or as a vegetarian main course served with salad. But seriously you don’t have to be vegetarian to fall in love with this amazing Swiss chard galette.

I love to make this kind of galette, first because it doesn’t really matter what shape you get, it’s rustic, right ? And you can fill it with different vegetables depending on the season.

Here for example you can use spinach or kale instead of Swiss chard. In this recipe Ottolenghi used dolcelatte which is a type of Italian blue cheese but little bit hard to find. You can substitute it with french Saint Agur, roquefort or Stilto.

What if you don’t like blue cheese at all ?

If you don’t like blue cheese, like me before this recipe even if I still thinking that I’m not ready yet to eat it as it is, you can go for Feta cheese, it can be a good option that provides an earthy tone without the strong flavour of blue cheese.

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Swiss chard galette with blue cheese & sumac - Ottolenghi

08/11/2021 4passionfood

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Serves: Serve 4 as a starter or main course depending on what you serve with it .

Ingredients

For the crust

80 g plain flour
35 g wholemeal flour
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp flaked salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
115 g unsalted cold butter, cut into 1-1/2 cm cubes
60 ml ice cold water , ( 40ml for me )

The filling :

10 g unsalted butter
2-1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion , (200g ) thinly sliced
250 g Swiss chard, stems chopped into 1cm cubes, leaves roughly chopped.
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
salt
black pepper
30 g golden raisins, soaked in 100 ml hot water for 20 minutes, then drained
20 g pine nuts
3/4 tsp sumac
45 g ricotta, (70g for me)
100 g dolcelatte cheese, roughly crumbled ( I couldn’t found it so I used Stilton)
1 egg

Method :

1)
Heat the oven to 200C ( I advice you 180C).
2)
Melt the butter and a tablespoon of oil in a large saute pan on a medium heat, then fry the onion, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until it’s completely softened and deeply caramelised. Set aside.
3)

While the onions are cooking, heat the remaining tablespoon and a half of oil in a large saute pan on a medium-high heat. Once hot, fry the chard stems for 5 minutes, until softened, then add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Add the chard leaves, half a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper, and cook for 3 minutes, until the chard has wilted and released some of its liquid. Transfer to a sieve set over a bowl, gently squeeze out any excess moisture, then put in a bowl and mix in the parsley, raisins, pine nuts, half a teaspoon of sumac and the caramelised onions, and leave to cool.
4)

Check HERE to see step by step how to make the crust.

Whisk both the flours in a large bowl with the sugar, salt and herbs. Add the butter and incorporate it into the flour by squashing each cube between your fingers. Don’t overwork the butter – you want chunks throughout the dough – so a light squish will do. Add the water and use your hands to gather the dough together into a shaggy mess – it will be quite wet.

Transfer the dough to a well-floured work surface and roll out into a rectangle about 28cm x 18cm. Fold the longer ends in towards each other, so they meet in the centre, then roll over once with a rolling pin. Fold in the shorter ends in the same way, roll out once again, then fold in half, so you’re left with a square. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5)

On a well-floured surface, roll out the chilled dough into a 28cm-diameter disc, then carefully lift on to an oven tray lined with baking paper.
6)
Spread the ricotta all over the dough, leaving a 1cm rim all around the outside edge.

Cover with half the blue cheese.

Top with the chard filling and the remaining blue cheese.
7)

Use a knife to make small, 2cm cuts about 8cm apart all around the circumference of the galette. Take one of the resulting dough strips and fold it inwards towards the centre. Repeat with the next strip, pulling gently so it overlaps slightly with the previous one and seals the previous fold. Repeat with all the strips all around the edge of the galette, then refrigerate for 30 minutes. Brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining sumac.
8)

Bake for 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through, I put my tray on the first level from the bottom and after 15 minutes I have had to cover it with foil. Leave to rest for 15 minutes before serving warm.

Enjoy !!