Courgette & tomato pesto galette
FREE TO READ: a feast from the greenhouse encased in cheesy rye pastry.
As you may recall, I have a new greenhouse, thanks to Rhino Greenhouses who gave me (they gave me!) this beautiful little greenhouse as a garden kitchen and growing space and in which I basically now live most days.
In exchange I am only too happy to produce some recipes for their blog. This is the first, which features the celebrity glut of the season (courgettes) and the first greenhouse harvest of basil and tomatoes. I hope you enjoy it.
(Also, I’m delighted to have roped in to capture the greenhouse in its summer glory.)
It has begun.
The courgette glut. Usually starting in August and continuing until November, a single happy courgette plant will crop so relentlessly that it is sure to keep a family of four up to their knees in courgettes all summer.
My courgette harvest has, despite the dreadful British ‘Summer’, begun even earlier than usual thanks to the head start the seedlings had in my new greenhouse.
Mostly, this is a delight.
I am an impatient gardener. But every courgette harvested is tinged with the sense of mild panic since it is guaranteed that there will be more to pick in just a few days. What will I do with them all, I wonder? How many more courgette dinners will the family stand? Which non-gardening friends can I foist the harvest upon? And, most commonly, how on earth did that little courgette turn into a marrow overnight?
And so, my summer recipes are always, always, dominated by courgettes.
Roasted, grated or ribboned raw for salads; slowly braised in oil; added to cakes (desperate times…); made into jam (ditto). But when they are small, young and pert they must be placed centre stage, as here in this courgette pesto galette.
Courgette & tomato pesto galette
The pastry, which is rustic and wholesome in flavour and should be equally rough in its free-from appearance, can be made a day in advanced then rolled when needed. The courgettes and tomatoes will release some juice when tossed in the oil, which is best left behind in the mixing bowl so as not to result in a soggy galette. I serve this still warm, though it’s great at room temperature too, with nothing more than a leafy salad for company, but a glass of something dry and chilled wouldn’t go amiss either.
(GIFTED: For full transparency, I have been given this greenhouse for free in exchange for recipe writing. Posts like this aren’t part of the exchange, but I’m so happy with both the greenhouse and the galette that I wanted to share it with you. I hope that’s ok - I don’t want to get all QVC about things here.)
it may have begun for you, but I am nowhere near a courgette glut yet...they're so behind!
You don't realise the difference having a green house makes until you have one!. Mine is currently housing the just germinated tomato and capsicum seedlings. I'll look forward to when they're actually producing and I can make this galette.