We got our first snowstorm of the fall/winter yesterday here in Denver. All in all the storm dropped over a foot in the city and up to 3 feet in the foothills, which seems like a lot for it not even being November yet.  Everyone is saying its going to be a really wet, snowy winter, so perhaps this is our first taste of what we have in store.  My office closed early (10 am) because of the storm, and when I came home all cold and with wet feet, I should have cooked something like a shepherd’s pie or a hearty soup.  But what did I decide to make? A light and flaky summer/early fall savory galette.  Oh well, it sounded good and I had some pie dough in the freezer begging to be used.

I’m not sure that “galette” is exactly an appropriate term here, it seems to apply to sweet and not savory dishes, but its the closest word I can think of and I’ve seen it used in various blogs and books, so we’ll just call it a galette and not be so picky about the semantics.  This dish would be perfect as an appetizer before a nice meal, and can be made early on the day you want to serve it and refrigerated until its time to go in the oven.  I’m also experimenting with freezing this, there are a few in the freezer as we speak, and I’m sure they will cook up nicely straint from the freezer to oven.

Step 1:
Make the dough. I used a regular pie crust recipe, since that’s what I had in the freezer, and it got rave reviews. I liked the flakiness against the dense filling.  The recipe I used is on this blog under “Pie for Dinner”.  There are various savory tart dough recipes floating around the internet, and I’m sure any of them would work well, or even an empanada dough recipe (you can find one on this blog under “frystravaganza”.  Put the dough in the fridge or the freezer while making the filling.

Step 2:
Cut a half of a medium sized onion or a quarter of a large onion into thin strips.  Put 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium high heat, and when the butter is bubbling add the onion, a sprinkling of salt and a few grindings of pepper. (To make a spicy dish, also add at this time one large jalapeno or a small serrano pepper, cut lengthwise into forths.)  Sautee the onion until light golden and then turn the heat down to medium and cook the onion until just slightly soft.

Step 3:
While the onion is cooking, cut up a can (15 ounces or so) of artichoke hearts into small pieces. You could use fresh artichokes but I don’t think it would be worth the trouble, because you need a lot of them!  Once the onion is done to your satisfaction, bring the heat back up to medium high and add the artichoke hearts and a pinch of savory. Stir well.  Cook until the artichokes have a slight color change and are quite soft.

Step 4:
Preheat oven to 350. Turn the onion and artichoke mixture into a bowl and add either 4 ounces of Boursin cheese or 4 ounces of goat cheese (chevre) mixed with some very finely chopped chives and a sprinkling of garlic powder.  Roll half of the dough out into a relatively round shape (a less than perfect circle helps with the “rustic” look of this dish) about 8 inches across.  The dough should be fairly thick, maybe 1/6 inch. Thick enough to hold together while transporting to the baking sheet, but not too thick to overwhelm the dough.  Move the rounded dough to a greased cookie sheet, and spoon about half the filling onto the dough, spreading it out but leaving about an inch of dough on the edges. Then fold the dough over the edges of the filling, making sure there are no gaps for the filling to escape. 

Repeat with the second half of the dough and bake until the edges are brown, about 25 minutes. Before serving squeeze a very small amount of fresh lemon onto the galette. Cut, serve and enjoy!!