Mushroom Galette

Mushroom Galette

A galette is simply a free-form French pastry with either a savoury or sweet filling. Easy and quick to make, this mushroom galette is creamy, has depth of flavour and makes a perfect light lunch.

400g puff pastry
125ml cream cheese at room temperature

45ml butter
30ml vegetable oil
500g mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
15ml thyme, lightly chopped
45ml port or sherry
250ml mozzarella cheese, grated

Egg wash of 1 egg and 15ml milk, whisked together

Preheat your oven to 200℃.
Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the pastry big enough to cut a 26cm-diameter circle.
Place the pastry circle onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Spread the cream cheese onto the pastry with the back of a spoon, leaving a 2cm border of pastry, all around.
Set aside.

Heat a heavy bottom pan on high heat and add the butter and oil. (If your pan is not large enough to accommodate all the mushroom at once, add half the butter and oil).
Add the mushroom to the pan and fry at high heat so that the mushroom caramelises, about 3 minutes.
Now add the garlic and thyme and cook for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
Spoon this mixture into a bowl to cool and put the frying pan back onto medium heat.
Add a splash of oil and cook the onion until soft. Add this to the mushroom mixture.
Put the pan back onto the heat once more and add the port, scraping down the pan with a spatula. Scrape the caramelised bits left in the pan as well as the reduced port onto the mushroom mixture.

Sprinkle two thirds of the grated mozzarella cheese onto the cream cheese and pastry.
Spoon the cooled mushroom mixture on top of the cheese and finish with the rest of the mozzarella.
Fold the 2 cm pastry that extends beyond the filling over and onto the mushroom mixture.
Brush the folded pastry with the egg wash and bake the galette for 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
Serve as an aperitif or as a light lunch.


Barley Salad

Barley Salad

Barley is a nutritious whole-grain and makes a delicious salad. In this recipe you may replace the roasted beetroot and carrots with leftover, roasted veg. The dressing in this salad pulls the dish together and perks it up to extra tasty!

250ml pearl barley
750ml water
10ml stock powder
about half an English cucumber, diced
one red onion, diced
a handful of basil and mint, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
about 125ml roasted beetroot, chopped
about 125ml roasted carrot, chopped
125ml pomegranate seeds

Dressing:

60ml lemon juice
zest of one lemon
60ml olive oil
60ml honey
5ml mustard
60ml mayonnaise
5ml salt
1 clove garlic, minced

Add the pearl barley, water and stock powder to a small saucepan and turn the heat onto high. Keep an eye on it as it gives off a lot of foam at first and can cause the pot to boil over.
When the water reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low so that it reaches a simmer.
Cover the pot with a lid and cook until the barley is done. The water should be absorbed after 25 minutes and the barley should have tripled in volume. It should be soft but chewy.
Take the saucepan from the heat, fluff the barley with a fork and put aside to cool.

For the dressing:

Add all the ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk for about a minute or until the dressing is amalgamated.

Add the cooled barley to a mixing bowl and mix with the cucumber, onion, herbs, tomato, beetroot and carrots.
Drizzle half of the dressing onto the salad and give everything a good mix.
Add the pomegranate seeds to the salad and drizzle with a little more dressing.
Serve the salad with the extra dressing in a jug.