Asparagus and goat's milk cheese galette

The humble galette is something I only really discovered and have learned to love (especially the cheats version) over the last year or so.  A blog introduced to me by a fellow passionate foodie, Smitten Kitchen, has become one of my favourite food blogs: smittenkitchen.com. It's here that I found the galette recipe that has become my own with a few tweaks, so it's only fit that I mention this awesome space of endless fool proof recipe for you to enjoy too! It's one of those blogs where you can be guaranteed of the trustworthiness and pure deliciousness of every recipes. So, I'll be forever grateful for the convenience of throwing together a last minute galette and seasonal salad when it's too hot a summers day for anything else or I simply haven't even thought of cooking dinner until 7 pm...

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius

Ingredients for the pastry:

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into blocks

1/4 cup buttermilk or full fat cream cheese

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 cup cold water

Method: The method is very simple. Remember that when making pastry, you want all the ingredients to be chilled, and the butter to be almost too hard to crumble. What I like to do is leave the flour in the fridge for an hour or so before making the pastry.
Start my sifting the flour and the salt together in a bowl. Now crumble the butter in with your fingertips until you've got the consistency of coarse bread crumbs. Then, mix in the buttermilk or cream cheese, lemon juice and cold water until it all comes together. Flour a surface and work the dough until it comes together and is a little smooth, but be careful not to over work the dough. Wrap it in plastic wrap and allow to rest in the fridge for an hour.

After an hour you can use a rolling pin to roll out the pastry in a rectangular shape and spread the pesto over the middle, leaving the edges without pesto. Fold the edges over into a double layer and press indents with your fingers or crimp the pastry to make a pretty pattern.

What I like to call the 'cheats version' - The other option of course, is if you can get hold of some good quality frozen puff pastry, this can work just as well, although I would recommend giving yourself the challenge of making this very easy pastry yourself, and who knows what could follow after that!

For the topping, I like to use a pesto of sorts, I tend to have these type of ingredients in my fridge left over from my catering functions, but I realise it's not everyone that happens to have caper berries, red pepper pesto and goat's milk cheese just lying around in the bottom shelf of their fridge... So my plan is to give you options and inspiration to really make this recipe your own and discover the pure joy that is a crispy galette with a soft moist filling and some crunchy veggies on top...Yes please.

The options are endless when it comes to fillings and toppings for galettes, as mentioned, I like to use either rocket pesto or red pepper pesto for a moist base. Then I generally use a cheese, like soft blue cheese or goat's milk cheese and some vegetables like caramelised brown onions, beetroots or  baby marrows.

 Suggested toppings:

• Caramelised onions with beetroot and goat's milk cheese
• Ricotta cheese with red onions and baby marrows
• Blue cheese, caramelised onions and fresh rocket

Once you've spread the toppings on to the galette, all you need to do is paint the pastry with a whisked egg using a brush. Make sure your oven has reached the temperature and bake for 20-25 minutes or until brown and crispy. Serve the galette with a seasonal green salad or as a starter scattered with fresh herbs and a drizzle of olive oil.