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Fig, thyme + goat's cheese galette

Fig goats cheese tart for AJ WEB

This is a pretty tart. I make it with a couple of substantial salads for a summer lunch for 6; with a green salad it would serve a hungry 4. Roasting the figs will bring out their jammy nature so you can get away with using them lightly under- or over-ripe here.

Duration
Difficulty
Serves
4
Fig goats cheese tart for AJ WEB

Ingredients

For the pastry

  • 25g hazelnuts
  • 225g white spelt flour or plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 125g very cold butter or vegan butter, cubed

For the topping

  • 300g soft goat’s cheese or vegan soft cheese
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • a small bunch of thyme or oregano, leaves picked
  • 3 tablespoons capers
  • a small bunch of parsley, leaves and stalks roughly chopped
  • the juice and zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 8 figs, sliced
  • 1 organic egg, beaten, or a splash of plant milk
  • 50g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

To serve

  • some lemon-dressed salad leaves

  1. Make the pastry

    First, make the pastry. Put the hazelnuts into a food processor and blitz until you have fine crumbs; be careful not to overdo it, as they will turn into a nut butter. Add the flour and half a teaspoon of flaky sea salt, then pulse a few times so everything is evenly mixed.

    Now add the butter and pulse again until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then, with the motor running, add 2–3 tablespoons of ice-cold water one tablespoon at a time until it comes together to form a ball of dough. Remove the dough from the processor, flatten into a rough disc, then wrap in a clean tea towel or baking paper and place in the fridge to chill for half an hour.

  2. Preheat the oven

    Preheat the oven to 220C/220C fan/gas 7.

  3. Make the goat's cheese mixture

    Using the same food processor, add the goat’s cheese, honey, the leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme or oregano, capers, parsley, lemon juice and zest to the bowl and blitz for a few seconds until creamy and flecked with herbs and capers. Season with some black pepper.

  4. Roll out the pastry

    Once the pastry has chilled, remove from the fridge and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Drizzle some olive oil into the centre of the paper.

    Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface to about 30cm round and 1cm thick, turning it as you roll to make sure it stays circular. Roll it up onto the rolling pin and carefully transfer to the prepared baking tray.

  5. Top the galette

    Spread the goat’s cheese mixture onto the pastry, leaving a 4cm border to fold over later. Top with the figs, being generous as they’ll shrink in the oven slightly.

  6. Fold in edges and brush pastry

    Next, fold the edges of the pastry over the figs to hold them in, brush the edges with the beaten egg or plant milk, then season all over with salt and pepper.

  7. Bake + serve

    Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until golden, scattering over the 50g of chopped hazelnuts for the last 5 minutes to toast. Cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes, then top with the remaining thyme or oregano leaves. Serve with lemon-dressed leaves.

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