Editor Sarene Wallace of Edible Ojai & Ventura County offered this tantalizing recipe that will make a festive start to any dinner and most definitely do well on the holiday table. The recipe is by Julia San Bartolome, owner of Sweet Arleen’s bakery in Westlake Village, California, and a three-time winner of the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.”
Ingredients
- ¾ pound sweet potatoes (about 2 smaller sweet potatoes)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1½ cups organic chicken broth (vegetable broth can be substituted)
- ¼ cup fresh turmeric, peeled and grated
- 1½ tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- Sea salt flakes
- ½ cup honey, preferably local
- 2 serrano chilies, sliced lengthwise, with seeds
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons yellow cornmeal (I like to use medium grind)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
- 4–6 tablespoons (about) ice water
- 7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, preferably organic, cut into 8 pieces
Preparation
For this recipe, start by making the galette dough. It can be chilling in the refrigerator as you make the Sweet Potato Mash and Spicy Honey Glaze. If you’re short on time, feel free to use store-bought puff pastry dough.
Sweet Potato Mash
Makes about 2 cups
Preheat oven to 375°. Cut sweet potatoes in half, brush cut side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast about 40 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
Remove skin from roasted sweet potatoes and place in a saucepan with chicken broth, turmeric and sugar. Cook over a medium heat until broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Use back of a spoon to help mash sweet potatoes. It’s OK if there are some small chunks. Remove from heat and cool.
Spicy Honey Glaze
Makes ½ cup
Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Remove chilies.
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 375°.
Take 4 disks of rolled-out dough on baking sheet from the refrigerator. Spoon ⅓ to ½ cup Sweet Potato Mash onto center of each disk and spread mixture evenly over dough, leaving a ¾-inch border around outer edge.
Sprinkle feta cheese and rosemary over sweet potato mixture. Fold the dough edges of each galette towards center to form a crust. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
After removing baked galettes from oven, drizzle tops of each with 1–2 tablespoons of Spicy Honey Glaze. Garnish with a light sprinkling of coarse sea salt flakes, such as Maldon.
Galette Dough
Makes enough for 4 galettes
Adapted from Baking with Julia: Sift, Knead, Flute, Flour and Savor the Joys of Baking with America’s Best Chefs by Dorie Greenspan (HarperCollins Publishers, 1996).
Place all dry ingredients in bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Mix yogurt and ice water together and set aside. Add butter to dry ingredients and pulse until largest pieces of butter are size of peas. Slowly pour in yogurt mixture while pulsing dough in food processor. Pulse just until mixture starts coming together. Chunks will hold together when pressed with your fingers. (You don’t want the dough to be wet.)
Portion into 4 balls of about ⅓ cup each. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and flatten into disks. Allow dough to chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Gently roll out each disk on a lightly floured surface to about ¼ inch, then transfer onto a parchment paper–lined rimmed baking sheet. Let chill in refrigerator 30 minutes before filling.
Note: The dough can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. You can also freeze it for up to a month when wrapped well. To use, thaw wrapped dough in refrigerator.
