Another recipe that came from the avalanche of cookbooks I borrowed from the library of late is today’s Creamy Cauliflower Galette from Alison Roman’s latest, Sweet Enough. Despite its title, the book did have a smattering of savory recipes like this one, and one named Many Mushrooms Pot Pie that I would like to make in the future. Catching my eye in the sweet category were three recipes for A Bowl of Salted Chocolate Pudding, Old Fashioned Strawberry Cake and Salted Lemon Cream Pie, the salt in two of these recipes tieing into the title of the book once again. Which one should I make first? Decisions, decisions. Since I would be happy with all three, I will likely throw it out to the hubs to decide.
This past week, I was really organized with our dinner plans, deciding on the recipes I would try in advance and purchasing all the necessary ingredients. Not to be over congratulatory but planning ahead is not consistently my strong suit. Sometimes, I like to wait to see what we feel like having, or I get inspired by a gorgeous piece of fish or cut of meat at the market. But since I’ve added so many recipes to my inspiration folder (which isn’t a folder but a bunch of random photo copies of recipes!), I thought I had better give them justice, rather than have them languish.
One more fun fact before we get going. Someone asked me recently what the most popular recipe is on The Kitchen Scout. The answer is that I am not 100% sure, however the recipes that get the most views are the ones with celebs names in the titles! Ottolenghi & Goh’s Coconut, Almond and Blueberry Cake and Alison Roman’s One-Pot Chicken with Dates and Caramelized Lemon are two of the most viewed. So, having no shame in my game, Alison’s name is appearing in the recipe title here here once again because after all, she is the author and deserves all the credit!
Creamy Cauliflower Galette caught my attention for a number of reasons. First, who doesn’t like pie for dinner? The idea of marrying cauliflower with leeks and my favorite gruyere cheese, placing them in a pastry dough, topping it with a splash of heavy cream and calling it dinner is just divine to me. You could also call this an appetizer, slicing it into thin pieces and offering it alongside a glass of crisp white wine. Or a first course at a dinner party. Or, you can just serve it for dinner alongside a salad and eat it in front of the tele watching The Bear because it won all of the Emmy awards and you are late to the game. We absolutely adored it. Completely delicious and I can’t wait to make it again.
I’ve offered some tips on the most challenging part of the recipe – the cauliflower – in the headnote of the recipe, which isn’t so much of a challenge, but rather a suggestion. Do try to slice it 1/4 inch thick so that it cooks properly in the crust. And while Alison suggests using her pie crust recipe (which I did copy and plan to try at some point), I did cheat and used store bought. I think I heard that either Cooks Illustrated or Milk Street considered Pillsbury to have the best flavor in a blind taste test so I used that. Once again, no shame!
I do hope you make this galette and if you do, please report back and let me know how it goes! Scroll to the very bottom of the post to find the recipe.
Until next time…
Two Years Ago: Kung Pao Chicken
Three Years Ago: Shrimp Fried Cauliflower Rice
Four Years Ago: Sheet Pan Salmon Fajitas
Five Years Ago: Double Stuffed Potato Bites
Six Years Ago: Turkey Luleh Kebabs
Seven Years Ago: Two Coves Farm & Five Pine Farm raising grass-fed beef together in Maine
Eight Years Ago: Farro, Citrus and Arugula Salad
Nine Years Ago: Cheesy Baked Tortellini
TEN Years Ago: Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
This recipe is from Alison Roman's latest cookbook, Sweet Enough, which thankfully has some savory recipes like this one! The measurement for cauliflower was roughly 1/2 of a traditional supermarket cauliflower - you may want to weigh yours at the market to determine the correct amount of it to use. I cut my pieces from the center so I had pretty slabs, but invariably some of the cauliflower will crumble so use the break away florets to fill in your gaps when layering. Enjoy - this one is delish and can be served as a main course, or as a little appetizer.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour for dusting
- 1 pie crust, homemade or store bought
- 3/4 pound cauliflower, sliced lengthwise through the core into slabs 1/4 inch thick (see headnote)
- 1 medium leek, thinly sliced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (you can also use white cheddar or parmesan)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with a rack in the middle.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough to a 13-14 inch circle (I got mine to 13 and it worked fine). Transfer the dough round to the baking sheet.
- Leaving a 2 inch border all around, layer the sliced cauliflower and leeks over the dough, seasoning with pinches of salt and pepper throughout. I did this in 2 layers.
- Scatter with the cheese, drizzle with the olive oil and fold up the edges onto each other to form your galette.
- Slowly pour the heavy cream over the vegetables and cheese, allowing it to soak in between pours. You can drizzle a tiny bit more olive oil over the top now although I did not!
- Beat the egg with a teaspoon or so of water, then brush the egg wash all over the crust. Sprinkle the crust with some black pepper.
- Bake, rotating the pan front to back once halfway through the cooking time until the crust of the galette is deeply golden, the cauliflower is totally and tender and the top looks gloriously roasted. Alison suggests 55-65 minutes. I cooked mine for a total of 50, rotating it after 30 and then covering it with parchment for the last 10 minutes so it wouldn't get too browned.
- Let cool slightly before slicing and eating.
Tips from The Kitchen Scout
Alison says this galette can be baked 2 days ahead and stored losely wrapped at room temp. It can be refrigerated for up to 5 days and is great cold or reheated. My two cents - good luck getting it to last that long!