For the main course in
my Thanksgiving Week menu, I decided to share a recipe for a vegetarian dish.
As I mentioned in my first post of this series, I don’t know the first thing
about roasting a turkey and I don’t think most people need a new turkey recipe
anyway. What I think people do need inspiration for is a main dish to satisfy
the vegetarians at the table, who may not be too fond about the idea of
tofurkey (at least the vegetarians I know aren’t)!
I’ve been wanting to
make a galette for a while now, so I thought this would be the perfect
vegetarian main dish to share for Thanksgiving Week. I first chose a recipe
from Eating Well that had a much healthier crust than most
other recipes, with whole wheat flour and only a bit of olive oil instead of
butter or cream. Since I would be eating the whole test version myself, I
thought this was a good decision. Unfortunately, the dough didn’t agree with
me. Even after adding way more water and oil than the recipe called for, the
dough was a big crumbly mess. I still wrapped it up and put it in the fridge,
hoping that it would magically transform into a workable dough by the morning.
Well, no such luck. I spent what felt like hours trying to roll out the dough
the next day and when my arms could barely even lift the rolling pin anymore
and my dough was in a million pieces, I gave up.
I then decided to go
with a trusted baking source, even if it meant an unhealthy dough. Martha Stewart’s dough recipe called for a whole cup of butter, which scared me a little bit, but I
convinced myself that if it meant I would have a manageable dough, it was worth
the splurge. Besides, I’d already burned off about a thousand calories trying
to roll out the other dough earlier!
I whipped up the new
dough and it was so soft and easy to work with that I wanted to kiss it.
Instead, I covered it with roasted vegetables and goat cheese and baked it into
the most delicious dinner I’ve had in a while. You really can’t go wrong with a
buttery, flaky pie dough, sweet roasted vegetables, and creamy baked goat
cheese. This galette is definitely something the vegetarians at your
Thanksgiving meal will appreciate, and the meat-eaters will be jealous of. Even
if you don’t have any vegetarians to serve, this galette would still make a
lovely addition to the table, either as a side dish or an appetizer if cut into
smaller slices. Or, you could just make this on a random weeknight to eat all
to yourself so that I don’t have to feel as guilty about doing it too!
If you want a healthier
idea for a vegetarian main course, check out the Day 6 recipe over at Vanilla
& Spice for butternut squash and apple quinoa. And if you still need more inspiration, then
check out the links at the end of this post!
Roasted Vegetable Galette
Serves 6-10
For the dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose
flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold unsalted
butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice
water
Pulse flour and salt
briefly in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse about 10
seconds, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces
remaining. Add 1/4 cup of ice water and pulse until mixture begins to hold
together. If it’s too dry, add up to 1/4 cup more ice water until dough holds
(but is not wet or sticky).
Remove dough from food
processor and shape into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm,
about 1 hour or overnight.
For the filling:
1.5 cups chopped
peeled carrots
1.5 cups chopped
peeled parsnips
2 cups chopped peeled
butternut squash
3 large shallots,
peeled and chopped
1 head garlic
~2 tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons chopped
fresh rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon salt, or
to taste
Freshly ground pepper,
to taste
¼ to ½ cup crumbled
goat cheese
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
Chop carrots,
parsnips, and squash into ½” uniform pieces. Combine vegetables (carrots, parsnips, squash, shallots) with 1.5
tablespoons olive oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and toss to
coat. Spread the vegetables on the baking sheet.
Cut the tips off one
end of the head of garlic and drizzle the exposed cloves with a teaspoon of
oil. Wrap garlic in foil and place on the baking sheet with the vegetables.
Roast vegetables and
garlic until tender (they don’t have to be completely soft because they will go
in the oven again later), about 20-30 minutes. The garlic may need an
additional 10-15 minutes in the oven on its own.
Transfer the
vegetables to a large bowl. Unwrap the garlic and let cool slightly. Squeeze
out the garlic cloves into a small bowl and mash with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add
the mashed garlic to the vegetables and toss to coat.
Reduce oven
temperature to 375°F.
Once dough has
chilled, roll it out on a floured surface or pastry mat into a 15” circle,
about 1/4” thick. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the
dough onto the sheet. Arrange the roasted vegetables on top of the dough,
leaving a 2-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle goat cheese over the
vegetables.
Fold the border of the
dough up and over the filling to form a rim, pleating as you go. Bake until
crust is golden brown, about 50-60 minutes. Serve warm.
For other vegetarian Thanksgiving main dish
ideas, check out these links:
I had a bit of a dilemma about what type of dessert to share for the last day of 
