Summer time food and picnic fare - A canned sardine gallette to make you drool


I think I've mentioned this before but I am not a picnic kind of person. At all. Picnics usually mean bugs and insects and I have a phobia. A major phobia, at that. So I don't usually go on picnics. But once a year, in the sunny month of August, I give in and forget about my fears. See, kiddo likes to have his birthday lunch out in the open. He always wants a picnic for his birthday lunch, and we always indulge him on that one. Never has he asked us to go out to a restaurant, for lunch or dinner, on his birthday. No. He wants proper homemade fare. Picnic for lunch, usually featuring sarnies, with nice breads, cheese, ham, lettuce, tomato, boiled eggs. Perhaps a packet of crisps, because indulgence is allowed. For dinner, a barbecue. And a birthday tart. Not cake, mind you, pie or tart. That's my son for you.


Everytime I try to convince him of trying something new for his picnic, instead of the same old sarnies, he puts down his foot and says no, it's his birthday and he'll have what he wants. I tell him of course, he should have what he wants, but I can't lie, I'm tired of the old bread and cheese and ham thing. So this year, I've been putting my head down, trying to come up with something different, something new, something that catches his eye straight away and diverts him fromthe sandwiches of yore. Something exciting, you know? And I think we may have come to an agreement of sorts. I mean, it's gonna be bread, boy can't let go of his bread. Only it's gonna be a bread that combines the usual sarnie ingredients inside the dough. A savoury bread, like plenty we do for the weekend, one he can cut into slices too and add his tomato and his lettuce. I'll grant him that, although I wished for something even more exciting, more original. Bread it is.


But as I went around trying to figure something new for his picnic, I stumbled upon an idea that just wouldn't budge from my mind. A gallette. I mean, I've cooked savoury gallettes before, well, at least once, but we sort of gave up on them. I took the recipe from another blog - not gonna say which - and we weren't impressed by it. It was a mushroom gallette and the dough was such a disapointment! Too doughy, flavourless, uninteresting. We put it aside and never cooked another again, but I'm stubborn as hell and I had the idea of savoury gallettes at the back of my mind for a couple of years. One day, this one just came screaming to my brain and I knew I had to try it. I was doing the shopping, and happened to be standing in front of a shlef filled with canned tunna and canned sardines. I took one look at them, and the idea was there, quickly becoming an obsession.


Canned sardines gallette, my mind went. Such a great idea, it said. And cheap! It kept on. Proper Summer fare, picnic food at its best. I knew I had to try it. So I brought home two cans of sardines, one in tomato sauce, the other in spicy tomato sauce. The dough, I told my husband to come up with a recipe, because, frankly, he excells at doughs and breads, I always leave that to him. And unlike the one we tried before, this dough is flaky, and light and full of flavour. This dough is heavenly and you won't be able to stop eating it, which can be a bit of a problem. Look, this isn't diet food. It's not unhealthy either, it's not filled with stuff that will poison your body slowly. I still have a measure of trust on portuguese canned fish, so I risk it. I don't eat sardines unless they're canned, I can't stand grilled sardines. But these, I could eat a can in one go and still beg for another. And if you want to go on a picnic with something that will put a smile on the attendants' faces, I tell you I got you covered.


It's something that pairs up well with chilled beers or chilled whites - I don't drink white wines, usually, they sit badly in me - it's something you can sit down at a table to eat in a plate with proper cuttlery, but it's something you can grab a slice of and munch away by hand, no hassles, laid back as it is, and Summer begs for that kind of food. Summer begs for ease, no rules, no dress code, no eating code too. Just something delicious, something that makes the tastebuds sing, that puts you in the right mood nd makes you happy. Summer is all about simplicity, and this couldn't be any simpler. It's also about indulgence and you got plenty of that going on here. Add a proper salad to your meal and you'll be ticking the veggies box as well, plus, they go far too well together.


So for the dough you will need:
  • 250 gr all purpose flour
  • 50 gr buckwheat flour
  • 50 gr spelt flour
  • 100 gr butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 100-150 ml wate
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pinch dill
On a food processor mix the flours with the salt and the dill. Add the cubed butter and blitz until you have a dough with a sandy consistency. Transfer onto a bowl and with the help of a knife, add 50ml water, mixing without kneeding. Pour in the olive oil and keep adding water until the dough comes together but is still dry. It should look and feel smooth and silky. Cover and let it rest in the oven for 30 minutes. After that amount of time, you can stretch the dough on a floured surface, with the aid of a rolling pin. Try to make it into a rounded shape, it's easier to form the gallette.


As for the filling, I used:
  • one tin of canned sardines in tomato sauce
  • one tin of canned sardines in spicy sauce
  • two slices of Flemish cheese - use any kind of cheese you have
With the dough now ready, you can start assembling the gallette. What I did was take the sardines and place them in the center of the dough, like they were sunrays, know what I mean? I placed one spicy and the next was a tomato one, so they weren't clumped together by flavour. Over them, I laid the cheese, cutting the slices into smaller pieces. ThenI folded the dough towards the center, and baked it in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes at 180º. Keep an eye on it, every oven is different and you don't want to eat raw dough, nor burnt, at that. Serve with a nice salad and a chilled beer, and you'll be a happy beaver, I'm sure!!



Comments

  1. I will definitely make this galette ovwr the week-end.
    Thanks :)

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  2. You're a good mama! And this looks beautiful, I definitely want to try it. And I love picnics, I get the bugs fobia, but it's so nice to eat outside :)

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    Replies
    1. my son begs to differ, especially when I tell him off ahahahaahhah!! Me and bugs, major pan out, I ruin everyone's time outside with my hysterical fear lol

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  3. i feel like sardines are overlooked in america, but with flaky pastry and cheese, there's no way this could be anything less than delicious (:

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