Think: flaky, creamy, cheesy, lemony, zucchini-y. All of the good things about a savoury dish brought together into a pretty and rustic galette.

If you know me, you know I love a good galette. And I love mixing it up and creating both sweet and savoury galettes. I’ve tried everything from stone fruit to tomato to apple, and now, zucchini! You can literally wrap any produce in flaky pastry and 90% of the time it will be tasty. WORD.

I decided to make this galette gluten-free, mostly because I avoid gluten as much as I can, but also because I just bought an All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour by Bob’s Red Mill that I was really excited to try. Of course, anything made with gluten-free flour has a different taste than that made with regular, wheat flour, but I must say, I was impressed with how this crust held together and how flaky it was. If you eat regular wheat flour, feel free to swap in some all-purpose in it’s place!

Let’s talk filling – Smooth, lemony ricotta. This is my favourite part. Extra creamy ricotta with lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper whipped together to make the dreamiest of beds for the lucky zucchini. Smear the crust with as little or as much as you want. The addition of lemon brings a brightness to the dish that makes it perfect for Spring or Summer.

The leading actress here is the zucchini. A few important tips that will help you achieve the ideal galette would be to slice the zucchini about a quarter of an inch thick, making sure they are all the same thickness, place the slices onto paper towels for 30 minutes before assembling your tart and salt them well. This allows the (abundant) excess water to be pulled out, avoiding a soggy mess.

The dough – Finally, let’s talk about the dough. I used to be intimidated when making pastry dough, but it’s actually quite an easy skill to master. The most important part of pastry is to use very cold butter. If the butter is cold, it melts down slower into the flour and, in turn, creates air pockets, which make for flaky pastry. To ensure your butter is perfect, cut it into cubes and store it in the fridge up until you need to use it. After combining it with the flour and forming a disc shape, wrap it in plastic wrap and return it to the fridge to firm up again. After I roll out the dough and assemble the galette, I like to pop it in the fridge yet again for ten minutes. Tip: Assemble your galette, put it in the fridge and set your oven. When your oven is ready, the galette can go right from your fridge to that 400 degree heat!

That’s it…Not too complicated, right?!

Gluten-Free Zucchini Galette

Serving size: 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Chill time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated, plus more for topping
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 3-5 tbsp ice-cold water

For the ricotta filling:

• 1 cup ricotta cheese (I use extra creamy)
• zest of one lemon
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• a few grinds black pepper
• pinch of salt

• 1 small zucchini, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 egg, beaten

Instructions:

For the crust:

1. To a food processor, add the flour, salt and pepper and pulse a few times to combine. Add parmesan cheese and the cold butter and pulse again until dough resembles small pea shape crumbs (see photo). Add vinegar and two tablespoons of ice cold water and pulse. Continue to add water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough begins to come together. Typically, I use around four tablespoons in total. Dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, form into a disc and then wrap and place in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

1. Prepare the zucchini by laying the rounds onto paper towels and sprinkling salt on the tops to draw out any excess water. Let sit for at least 30 minutes.

For the ricotta filling:

1. To a small bowl, add the ricotta, zest, lemon juice, pepper and salt and mix to combine. Place in the fridge until ready to assemble.

For the rest of the galette:

1. Combine olive oil, basil and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Flour your work surface and remove the dough from the fridge. Roll out into a circle about 1/4-inch thick. Carefully transfer the dough to a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Spread the ricotta mixture onto the dough, leaving a 2-inch border all the way around. Arrange the zucchini slices on top of the ricotta. Drizzle the olive oil mixture on top of the zucchini. Fold over the edges of the pastry. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and transfer the galette to the fridge for 10 minutes, or until the oven is ready. Right before placing the galette into the oven, brush the exposed pastry edges with the egg wash and sprinkle on some extra parmesan cheese, if desired. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until galette is golden brown in colour.