Caramelized Onion Galette

Are you one of those people who finds working with pastry and making tarts and pies stressful? If yes, have you ever tried making a galette? You should!

Galette is just a fancy word for a rustic, free-form tart. That means when you roll out the pastry it can tear, be patched back together, make weird shapes, and it’s all good! You just spoon a sweet or savoury filling into the center, fold the pastry inward, embrace the mess, and enjoy the food.

This caramelized onion galette is simple and delicious. There are only a handful of ingredients in the filling, including onions, thyme, and soft goat’s cheese. That’s it!

The onions are thinly sliced and then deeply caramelized in a heavy-bottomed skillet. This process isn’t hard work but does require a bit of patience as it’ll probably take 30-40 minutes for the onions to get to that sweet, jammy brown we’re looking for.

Fresh thyme is mixed in with the onions, and then, once spooned over the spelt-flour pastry, they’re topped with crumbles of soft, tangy goat’s cheese. Then, the sides of the pastry are folded as haphazardly as you dare, and the whole thing goes into the oven to get baked into a crisp, golden, sweet and salty galette.

This dish is perfect for brunch, lunch, or dinner, and is equally nice served warm or at room temperature. I love it alongside a green salad or a vegetable soup for a complete dinner. Enjoy!

Caramelized Onion Galette

A golden caramelized onion galette with crumbled goat's cheese and thyme, wrapped in whole grain pastry.

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Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 6

Author: Oh My Veggies

Ingredients

For the spelt pie pastry:

• 3/4 cup whole grain spelt flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon fine-grain salt
• 1 stick 1/2 cup / 113 grams cold butter, cut into cubes
• 3-4 tablespoons ice water

For the Caramelized Onion Galette

• 4 large yellow onions
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces soft goat's cheese
• 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• Salt and pepper.
• Extra thyme sprigs for garnish

Instructions

To make the spelt pie pastry:

• In the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade combine the spelt flour, all purpose flour, salt, and cubed butter. Pulse the food processor several times, until the butter is roughly the size of grains of rice. With the food processor running add the ice water one tablespoon at a time. You want the pastry to be starting to pull together, but it should still be quite crumbly at this point. Stop the food processor and see whether it holds together if you squeeze it in your hand. If yes, you're done. If no, add one more tablespoon of water.
• Tip the pastry out onto the counter top and bring it together with your hands. Form it into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the pastry for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

To make the galette

• Slice the tip off of the onions (while leaving the root intact), slice in half, and peel the skin off. Place the cut-side down on a cutting board, and use a sharp knife to slice the onions into thin slices.
• Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat. Add the onions and allow to cook without stirring for 5-10 minutes.
• Every five minutes or so, stir the onions and then re-arrange into a flat layer in the skillet. It should take about 30 minutes for them to become very soft and a deep golden brown, and reduce to about 1/3 the original size. Watch that they don't burn - you want deep brown, not black.
• Remove the onions from the heat, add the thyme and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
• Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll the chilled pastry out into a thin disk, about 1/6 of an inch thick. Don't worry about what shape the pastry becomes as you roll it out, this is supposed to have a rustic look.
• Carefully transfer the pastry to the prepared baking sheet.
• Spoon the cooled onions over the center of the pastry, and spread out into an even layer, leaving a few inches of pastry all around to be folded in.
• Crumble the goat cheese and evenly distribute over the onions.
• Carefully fold the edges of the pastry in, so that they envelop about half of the onions, but the center remains open.
• Place the galette into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the pastry is golden around the edges, and the onions are bubbling.
• Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Leftover pastry freezes really well, so make a double batch and freeze for the next time you make a galette.
Mix up the cheeses you use here. Gruyere is lovely, as is a crumbled aged blue.

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