The ratio of effort to deliciousness for these individual savoury pastries is completely unmatched. If you keep a few rolls of store bought puff pastry in the freezer, you can throw these together whenever you should be so lucky to come across fresh, firm, blemish-free leeks.
The hardest part of this recipe is remembering to take the pastry out of the freezer a couple of hours in advance to thaw! I’ve started putting it in the fridge overnight, so I don’t forget.
Note: The recipe below makes approximately six galettes. A perfect weeknight main course for two, but there will be some filling leftover. I like to keep it in the fridge as filling for omelettes, but you can just as easily thaw a second roll of puff pastry to make some more galettes.
To extend enjoyment of your leeks, toss the greens in your freezer to throw into homemade stock down the line.
Ingredients
- 1 roll frozen puff pastry (thawed)
- 1 large leek (chop off the coarse green leaves; halve the stock lengthwise; rinse and slice in 1cm wide strips)
- 150 g plain chèvre / goat cheese
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tsp oil
Process
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Unroll puff pastry dough. Using a biscuit cutter, separate the dough into rounds. Find something with a smaller circular head—I used the wide end of a steel jigger—to press smaller circles into half the rounds. With the centres removed, these will be the tops of the galettes and the full rounds will be the bottoms.
In a large pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the leek and 1/2 tsp salt. Sauté until the leek is tender and some pieces are translucent. This should take 6-8 minutes.
Place the goat cheese in a large bowl. When leek is sautéed, place it straight into the bowl while still warm. Mix to combine as the goat cheese softens. Add in remaining salt, pepper and olive oil. Stir again to combine.
Set mixture aside to make a basic egg wash: place 1 egg and 1 tbsp cold water in a bowl and whisk until incorporated. Set aside.
On a baking sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment paper, evenly place the solid rounds of dough. Place approx. 1 tbsp of leek and cheese mixture in the centre of each round. Using the back of a spoon, gently smooth down the edges of the filling, so it is slightly higher in the centres like a hill.
Place the donut shaped dough pieces on top, centred over the filling. Brush the egg mixture gently over the pastry. It’s alright if you slightly make contact with the filling.
Place the galettes in the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is just beginning to brown in spots.
with abundance 