Dinner Tonight: Zucchini Galette
Another week, another baked egg dish. Nothing makes me happier then picking off a few slices and stashing the rest for a quick breakfast for the next morning. I found the recipe in the Provence Cookbook, which features gloriously sun-drenched recipes that makes me wish I could hop over for a Mediterranean weekend. I figured this recipe for galette, which is a kind of flat baked dish, would be a decent alternative.
Of course, the element that initially jumped out at me was the curry powder, which seemed utterly out of place. Luckily, the curry powder doesn't dominate the dish, it just imbues it with a mysterious lingering spice. What really makes this dish interesting is the zucchini, which lends a sweetness and lightness to each bite. The recipe also recommends some optional fresh tomato poured on top. Luckily, I had some left over. It adds another dimension to the dish, but is not absolutely necessary.
Zucchini Galette
- Serves 3-4 -
Ingredients:
1 pound zucchini (about 4 medium), trimmed
2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
1 teaspoon curry powder
fresh tomato sauce (optional)
olive oil
Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile, grate the zucchini. Toss in a colander, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the salt on top. Let the zucchini drain for about 30 minutes. Then run the zucchini under the faucet for a few seconds, to rinse off the salt. Dry the zucchini with a towel.
2. Whisk together the eggs in a large bowl. Add the bread crumbs, cheese, curry powder, and the rest of the salt. Dump in the dried zucchini. Stir everything until combined.
3. Pour the mixture into a 10 1/2 inch baking dish rubbed with oil. Pat the mixture down with the back of a spatula, until it is flat and smooth. Transfer to the oven and cook for 15 minutes. Remove, let cool for a few minutes, and then slice and serve with fresh tomato sauce poured on top, if you so choose.
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21 Comments:
now that looks great .... love the fact that it's baked and not fried like some zucchini-egg type recipes....
pooch at 5:10PM on 06/22/09
I was just wondering what to do with zucchini this week, this looks perfect!
Mary_Eats at 5:32PM on 06/22/09
dinner - tomorrow.
TwoBarkingDogs at 6:50PM on 06/22/09
This sounds really, really good. A question:
If 1 tsp of salt needs to end up in the final dish, why rinse it off the zucchini just to add it back in in step two? I'm not very good at salting and draining my vegetables, so I need as much help as I can get.
EmilyTakesTokyo at 9:35PM on 06/22/09
EmilyTakesTokyo: The first teaspoon helps the zucchini get rid of its excess moisture. The second teaspoon is just for flavor.
Nick Kindelsperger at 9:43PM on 06/22/09
just finished making/eating this for dinner.
success! even the neighbors came over to try some.
instead of 4 zucchini, i used 2 medium zucchini and 2 big handfuls of fresh, chopped baby spinach, and also used 3 eggs instead of 2. and an 8 inch pan...improv at its most delicious.
slograffiti at 8:30PM on 06/23/09
Thanks, Pauper Nick. I'm still puzzled, though, why 1 tsp can't do both jobs. If I just wring out the salted drained zucchini without rinsing, will I still get the right salt flavor?
I'm not a salt hoarder or anything, just trying to understand the process.
EmilyTakesTokyo at 10:09PM on 06/23/09
I made this yesterday -- terrible! I followed the instructions exactly and it ended up way too salty, and the curry powder tasted powdery, not mysterious and lingering.
What a waste of four good zucchini. I should've stuck with my usual zucchini squares recipe -- a version of this one. I recommend you do too.
http://southernfood.about.com/od/zucchinirecipes/r/bl00819e.htm
Simonr at 11:20AM on 06/24/09
Dump!
old chef at 7:56PM on 06/24/09
I'm with Simonr. That old zucchini recipe (we used to call it simply Zucchini Bake) says summer, BBQ's, pot luck to me. I will try this galette, but I'm not a salter -- for zucchini nor eggplant. Peeling and seeding for big zucchinis and peeling eggplant is all I've ever needed to do. Never understood the bitterness issue some folks have.
zucchini at 6:00PM on 06/27/09
I felt a little silly salting, rinsing & then drying the zucchini and adding salt, but it was tasty, with the addition of another egg, although the curry flavor was too strong for me, even with extra egg. I would cut it back to half a teaspoon next time.
Mary_Eats at 10:10PM on 06/27/09
Sounds and looks yummy and I can't wait to try it.
When you let the zucchini drain, alot of the first salting is lost. But how much is somewhat questionable, so the rinse, etc. process helps to standardize the amount.
I believe in this recipe the salting is not so much related to bitterness (as with eggplant) but primarily to draw out excess liquid from the squash and to begin the breakdown of the cell walls. I have made various egg & zucchini dishes over the years and they are sometimes too watery. This process looks like the answer to the problem.
bassetgal at 4:16PM on 06/28/09
Also, I note, the lead in back on "this week in recipes" refers to the taste of cumin, while the recipe has a substantial amount of curry powder. Yes, I know that cumin is a component of curry powder, but I'm wondering if it's just possible there's an error in the recipe.
bassetgal at 4:20PM on 06/28/09
I, too, was very disappointed in the recipe. Too salty, and although I cut the curry powder to a quarter teaspoon, the curry flavor was overpowering.
ChloeA at 8:20PM on 06/28/09
The wide variance in results may be due to "curry powder" being an ill-defined spice blend. Clearly, the recipe's author is using a far milder mix than are those who are finding the curry flavor overpowering.
My attempt at this dish tonight used a quarter teaspoon of my medium-intensity curry powder plus an equal amount of ground cumin. It got good reviews all round, but I think I will try cooking it longer at a slightly lower temperature next time, as the middle was just barely set at 15 minutes while the edges were fully done.
Chou Peng Qart at 12:56AM on 06/29/09
This recipe turns out way too salty. I used the 1 tsp of salt to get the water out of the zuccinni. Even rinsed it and dried it. Then added the next tsp of salt. Wrong! This second one could have been left out. So salty we could not eat it and had to throw it out.
monte312 at 8:17AM on 06/30/09
I agree that it came out too strongly tasting of curry. Mine was just a prepackaged curry mix, not especially spicy, but it still overpowered everything else. It also needed another egg or two depending on how big your zucchini are. Not recommended.
miabrahams at 8:28PM on 06/30/09
This actually came out great! But I doubled the recipe because I had a lot of zucchini. I ended up adding more egg (total 7 eggs 9 small zucchini) After the review I only put a teaspoon and a half of salt and curry powder. (not quite double the amount). It was really delicious, the zucchini shines, the curry powder is mysterious and the eggs silky smooth. Made for a really nice light summer dinner.
blankplate at 7:54AM on 07/01/09
I made this tonight and it came out really well and is really tasty. After reading the comments I made a few changes, some of which I probably wouldn't do again.
I added an extra egg, which I think made this too 'quiche-y' I think it would have been better with more of a ratio of zucchini to egg. I did cut down on the salt, but I probably would cut down more next time. Just salt to bring out the water, then even after rinsing, don't add more salt. I didn't have any curry powder, but I did have cumin and some garahm masala (an Indian spice with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, etc) so I added a 1/4 t of cumin and 1/4 t of the masala. It added a nice spice flavor that compliments the zuchinni. Lastly, I shredded a little more parmasean than the recipe called for, so I sprinkled it on the top. It made it a little crunchy and brown which is good.
I would definitely make this again, and I might use the basic recipe with some different vegetables like squash (summer or other types) or potatoes.
kimmc at 7:38PM on 07/12/09
OMG! That is absolutely delicious!!! Wonderful recipe - next time, I will drain my zucchini better and bake another five minutes but I love the flavor. Winner!
old_desert_rat at 5:42PM on 07/15/09
We loved this dish. I also added an extra egg because I was worried about how it would turn out. It was fabulous. I thought the curry powder provided just enough kick to give it some real flavor. I shared it with co-workers and they are still raving about it.
mrspacman at 12:03PM on 07/30/09