Pumpkin, Orange & Sage Galette by Ottolenghi

This savoury yet sweet pumpkin, carrot, orange and sage galette is outrageously delicious. It has endless layers of flavour, the flaky decadent sage infused pastry, the mascarpone garlic and shallots cream that serves as a bed for the roasted pumpkin and and carrot drizzled with a naughty orange maple syrup.

This recipe is from Ottolenghi’s cookbook Flavour.

Ingredients

pastry

• 100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

• 30g wholemeal flour

• 20g quick-cook polenta (I omitted this)

• 1/2 tsp caster sugar

• 3/4 tsp flaked sea salt

• 1 tbsp sage leaves, finely chopped

• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• 20ml olive oil

• 80ml unsalted butter, cold cut into 1/2 cm cubes

• 60ml ice cold water (use 50ml if you omit the polenta)

For the galette

• 1 small butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and sliced into 1cm thick (680g) (I used baby pumpkins)

• 2 carrots , peeled and cut into 1cm rounds (180g)

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp Sage leaves, finely chopped (plus extra whole leaves to serve)

• 2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and roughly crushed (I used fennel seeds instead)

• 1 head of garlic, top fifth cut to expose the cloves

• 1 large banana shallot, skin left on and top trimmed to expose the shallot (160g)

• 2-3 oranges, finely grate the zest to get 1-1/2 tsp , then juice them to get 160ml juice

• 60ml maple syrup

• 125g mascarpone cheese

• 1 egg, beaten for egg wash

• salt, flaked salt and black pepper

• extra sage leaves for garnish

Method

For the pastry, mix the dry ingredients with the sage, the salt, the black pepper and the olive oil. Then add the butter and incorporate into the flour by lightly squashing each cube between your fingers. Don’t over work the butter, you want chunks throughout the dough.

Add the water, using your hands to gather the dough together, it will be quite sticky.

Transfer to a well floured work surface and roll into a 28cm x 8cm rectangle, flouring the rolling pin, surface and pastry as you go.

Fold in half, then in quarters, dusting the excess flour off with a pastry brush as you fold. Tuck the edges underneath each other to form a disc shape. Pat out into a 15cm disk, then wrap tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 220°C fan. Toss the pumpkin and carrots with the oil, 1 tablespoon of chopped sage leaves, the caraway/fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon of flakes salt and plenty of black pepper.

Spread out on 2 large, parchment lined trays. Drizzle the garlic bulb and shallots with a little of oil, wrap individually in baking paper the foil and add to the tray.

Roast doe 25 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the oven, leaving the garlic and shallot to roast for an additional 15 minutes. When cool enough, squeeze the garlic and shallot out of their papery skin and finely chop.

 Reduce oven to 200°C fan.

Put the mascarpone into a bowl with the chopped garlic and shallots, orange zest and the remaining chopped sage leaves. Season with a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper, stir everything together well.

Put the orange juice and maple syrup into a small saucepan on a medium-high heat and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid reduces to a consistency of thickened, sticky maple syrup.

Transfer the dough un between two pieces of baking paper and roll out to a 30cm wide circle. Return to the fridge on a baking tray and refrigerate for a further 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the fridge and spread the mascarpone mixture evenly, leaving a 4cm rim around the edges.

Arrange the pumpkin and carrots over the mascarpone and then drizzle over the orange maple syrup.
Fold the edges of the pastry up and over the vegetables. Brush the exposed pastry with the egg.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp. Leave to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.  

I crisped up some extra sage leaves in some butter and scattered over mine!