A basic galette pastry is a fine thing just as it is, but swap some of the plain flour for blitzed-up hazelnuts and you’re onto something even more special. The nutty pastry can be made and rolled out ahead of mates coming over, so all you need to do is throw on some leeks, your favourite blue cheese and thinly sliced potatoes when they arrive.
This is a super-lazy but super-effective dinner party solution when served with a crisp salad and a lemony dressing.
SERVES 4–6
PREP TIME: 30 minutes, plus 1 hour for chilling
COOK TIME: 45 minutes for baking
PHOTOGRAPHY: MATT RUSSELL
FOOD STYLING: JESSICA ELLIOTT DENNISON
Season: Winter
ingredients
Hazelnut pastry
50g blanched hazelnuts
pinch of sea salt flakes
100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
85 g cold butter (salted or unsalted), cut into rough cubes
Galette filling
2 tablespoons cold-pressed rapeseed oil or olive oil
2 leeks, rinsed and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
pinch of sea salt flakes
3 baby new potatoes
75g blue cheese
½ tablespoon milk
Method
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First, make the pastry. Put the hazelnuts in a food processor and blitz until fine. Throw in the salt, flour and butter with a few splashes of cold water and pulse a couple of times until you get a scruffy dough. (Take care not to overwork the pastry – it’s fine if you’ve got quite big chunks of butter.) Press the dough into a rough ball, wrap in cling film (plastic wrap) or beeswax wrap, then pop in the fridge for 1 hour, or the freezer for 30 minutes.
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Meanwhile, make the filling. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over a high heat. Add the leeks, garlic and salt and sweat for 5 minutes until soft but not catching. Remove from the heat.
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Next, slice the potatoes as thinly as you safely can (use a mandoline, if you have one).
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When the pastry has been chilling for 1 hour, preheat the oven to 200°C fan (425°F/gas 7). Lay a sheet of baking paper on your work surface and lightly it dust with flour. Roll out the pastry to a rough circle, about 28 cm (11 in) in diameter, on the floured paper. You can use a rolling pin or even a wine bottle to do this and don’t worry about the pastry circle being perfectly round or neat at the edges, in fact, the scruffier the shape, the better. Transfer the pastry circle – still on the paper – to the baking tray.
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Spread the leeks over the pastry, leaving a 2-cm (3/4-in) clear border all the way round. Top with the potato slices, then break the cheese into chunks and dot over the potatoes and leeks.
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Fold the edges of the pastry inwards to overlap the filling, pinching it slightly to create a crust. Using a pastry brush, dab the crust with milk and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden and crisp at the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. To serve, slice the galette into 4 (as you would a pizza).
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The galette will keep for another day when left covered, but out of the fridge. You can reheat it or enjoy it at room temperature.
Read more: Lazy Baking
Baking might just not be your thing. Or, you might love it and spend every Sunday morning working on your sourdough. Whichever category you fall into, Jess’s book Lazy Baking has got you. The recipes are simple and realistic, both sweet and savoury recipes, and they use just a handful of ingredients, minimal kit and there’s little need for washing up. A dream for the novice or the pro.
— cook’s notes
If you don’t have a food processor, finely crush the hazelnuts (filberts) in a mortar with a pestle or rolling pin. Rub together the butter and flour between your fingertips instead of pulsing in the processor.
— about the author
Amazing make a head dinner, part cooked the potatoes as I know I can’t cut them thin enough