Kids Dish

I cooked an amazing Butternut Squash with Caramelized Onion Galette the other night. It took longer than I anticipated because I somehow managed not to read the part of the directions that specified the bowls used for the dough ingredients needed to be chilled for an hour in the freezer. Combined with the hour needed to chill dough, I was about an hour behind schedule, which wasn’t too bad since I’d planned to eat dinner at six, but it was still late considering we have an almost-two year old who should be getting to bed earlier than he is.

Because I was trying to rush I cut the dough refrigeration to 40 minutes instead of the full hour leaving me with a sticky, wet dough that was tough to roll out. I managed to roll the dough into a 12 inch circle, get the cooked filling in the center, and wrap the dough around it. The problem was when I went to transfer the dough to the baking sheet. The bottom stuck to the floured counter and started to rip. In a hurry to get the galette into the oven I grabbed a cookie sheet and slid it under the pastry, rather than sliding the pastry onto the sheet. It ripped a little, but I was able to patch it and slide it in the oven.

I’m going to fast forward an hour and half now then fill in the blanks.

We sat down to dinner. A hungry Sam came into the dining room and sat down next to me instead of his booster seat. Rather than argue with a hungry toddler I put some of the butternut squash pastry on his Thomas plate and put it in front of him. He grabbed his fork, and without even testing the temperature he stabbed a piece and started to eat. I was so proud of my little boy. He doesn’t usually react so well to unknown foods. The fact that he just started eating without hesitation thrilled me to my core.

Now I’ll get to the part I omitted. After the galette had been in the oven for about 15 minutes the oven filled with smoke and the smoke began to fill the room. A quick look inside showed the oven was not on fire, I’d just made a tactical error. The butter from the dough and the liquid from the filling was pooling on the unlined baking sheet and dripping to the oven floor where it smoked and burned. I shouted for Bob to pull the batteries from the smoke alarm and help. We turned on the fans and he dug an industrial strength fan in the window backwards to suck out the smoke. I didn’t know what to do. I turned off the oven and removed the galette. Bob told me it would be fine and I should just put it back in. So I put the un-rimmed cookie sheet onto a rimmed baking sheet and put it back it the oven to finish cooking.

Smoky kitchen panic aside, dinner was delicious. Because Sam ate it and liked it I will share the recipe with you.

Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette
from Smitten Kitchen

For the pastry:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
¼ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup ice water

For the filling:
1 small butternut squash (about one pound)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons butter (if you have only non-stick, the smaller amount will do)
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced in half-moons
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
¼ teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
¾ cup fontina cheese (about 2½ ounces), grated or cut into small bits
1½ teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves

1. Make pastry: In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Prepare squash: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Peel squash, then halve and scoop out seeds. Cut into a ½-inch dice. Toss pieces with olive oil and a half-teaspoon of the salt and roast on foil lined (for neatness sake) sheet for 30 minutes or until pieces are tender, turning it midway if your oven bakes unevenly. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Caramelize onions: While squash is roasting, melt butter in a heavy skillet and cook onion over low heat with the remaining half-teaspoon of salt and pinch of sugar, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in cayenne.

4. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Mix squash, caramelized onions, cheese and herbs together in a bowl.

5. Assemble galette: On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. (note: Make sure it is rimmed!!) Spread squash, onions, cheese and herb mixture over the dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold the border over the squash, onion and cheese mixture, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.

6. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Serves 6.

I took a picture of my own efforts, but Bob has the camera so I’ll upload later. Until then I’ll leave you with the photo of Deb’s from Smitten Kitchen. Her picture is prettier than mine anyway.