With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I am reminded that annual winter festivities are about to commence. I decided to open with a simple recipe for mushroom galette, which makes for a delicious vegan side or main if you are hosting a few vegans at your predominantly not vegan table.
I am a fan of galettes as they are easy to make, very easy to scale up or down – you can double the recipe if you wanted to cater to more people and you don’t have to worry about having the right tin size in your cupboard. You could also half the recipe and make an individual galette instead. I have published several galette recipes on here before and usually I tend to include a creamy base like in this zucchini galette or that pumpkin one, but it requires an extra preparation step and my intention was to keep this mushroom galette simple. Instead I topped it with some vegan ricotta towards the end of the baking time for that creamy contrast. You are of course welcome to add a creamy base, especially if you are planning to scale this mushroom galette up and make it into a centerpiece. I recommend flavouring it with roasted garlic and thyme to complement the mushrooms on top.
MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
FLOUR: There are a variety of flours you can use to make a galette. I really enjoy spelt flour, but wholemeal wheat flour or white flour will work nicely too. If you want something a little rustic, 50% dark rye and 50% white flour also works beautifully. I wouldn’t recommend using 100% rye flour as the dough will be too crumbly. To make it gluten-free, use a reliable gluten-free flour mix and ¾ tsp xanthan gum. VEGAN BUTTER/COCONUT OIL: You want fat to be about 50% of the weight of flour. I like to use vegan butter when making pastry as it’s easier to work with than coconut oil, but that’s also an option. I used vegan butter block Naturli but any other block of vegan butter will work just as well. APPLE CIDER VINEGAR: A touch of vinegar is added to the pastry to make the dough more tender, pliable and flaky. You can use apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar. MUSHROOMS: I used commonly available chestnut (or cremini in the US) mushrooms for the filling. You can use any mushrooms you like, including some more exotic ones if you can get them. The key thing is to cook all of the excess moisture out of them before seasoning to make sure the galette does not end up soggy. BALSAMIC VINEGAR: Mushrooms benefit from a little bit of acid and rich balsamic vinegar is a perfect match. I used thick syrupy one (like this) but cheaper stuff will also work well. SOY SAUCE: Soy sauce seasons the mushrooms and dials up their natural umami. If you want to make this dish without any gluten, use tamari instead. GARLIC: Garlic and mushrooms are a classic flavour pairing so adding garlic to the filling of this mushroom galette was a no brainer. I sautéed raw garlic in a bit of olive oil before coating the mushrooms in it. HERBS: I added some fresh thyme to the filling as mushrooms and thyme are best friends and fried a few sage leaves in olive oil and decorated the galette with them before serving. You can use rosemary instead thyme and fresh parsley instead of fried sage.
HOW TO MAKE IT?
1) MAKE THE DOUGH
Make the dough by pulsing all of the dry ingredients in a food processor, add cubed vegan butter and plus some more, until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Trickle in cold water with a touch of vinegar while pulsing. Stop once the mixture sticks together in the palm of your hand. Bring together with your hands, form into a disc, cover and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.
2) MAKE THE FILLING
Pan fry the mushrooms in batches until excess water cooks our and the mushrooms turn brown. Coat the in garlicky oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and soy sauce. Sauté until the marinade has thickened and the mushrooms look glazed.
3) ASSEMBLE
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until you get a rough circle of 26 cm / 10″ diameter. Place the mushroom filling in the middle leaving a margin all the way around. Fold the margin over the filling, glaze the pastry and sprinkle with seeds and flaky salt.
4) BAKE
Bake on a preheated pizza stone (or an upside down baking tray) until golden. If using vegan ricotta or a similar cheese, you may want to scatter it over the galette 5 minutes before it’s due to come out.
600 g / 21.5 oz mushrooms (I used chestnut / cremini) 30 ml / 2 tbsp olive oil 2 garlic cloves, finely grated 45 ml / 3 tbsp quality balsamic vinegar 30 ml / 2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari if GF) 10 ml / 2 tsp maple syrup a few springs of thyme a few fried sage leaves, for decoration (optional) vegan ricotta or favourite creamy cheese (optional)
ASSEMBLY
