Advice
Root Vegetable Galette: Your Answer to Vegetarian Dinner Parties
Maybe you recall the time Marian Bull crafted a perfect Food52 advice column response in the form of a poem.
Yes? No? Check it out here, and maybe print it for posterity.
The gist is this: Some poor sucker sent in a plea for creative vegetarian dinner party mains, so tired of grain salads and pasta dishes the aforementioned sucker found herself. Marian came to the rescue with aplomb and a knack for rhyme, offering stanza upon stanza of suggestions, much to the sucker’s gratitude and joy.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am that poor sucker. After a lifetime of attending my mother’s dinner parties wherein a (magical) pork tenderloin took center stage, I had reached the age of throwing such shindigs myself, only to remember that a growing subset of the people I love identify as meatless, on Mondays or otherwise. There was only so much quinoa I could subject myself and my guests to before we all collectively turned into a heaping portion of the ancient grain.
Help me, I implored Marian, a veg herself, in the form of a request submission signed “zzzzz”—as in, I am the most boring vegetarian hostess in this great wide world.
All of Marian’s ideas were golden—from pizza to tacos to stuff on toast—but I was most intrigued by the idea of a vegetable galette. Having one big dish from which everyone is served feels very dinner party-ish to me, but it's not as easy as it sounds when meat is out of the picture; I love the concept of letting the main dish act as “its own centerpiece,” as Marian notes, and, from my experience with dessert versions, I knew a galette was capable of commanding that kind of reverence.
For a savory iteration, I raided the root vegetable section of the produce aisle, sliced everything as thin as I could manage, and piled it all atop a generous spread of herby cheese. The result was stunningly colored, rustic as all heck, and totally satisfying as party food alongside a bracingly dressed salad and glasses of wine.
2 | cups whole-wheat flour |
1 | teaspoon salt |
12 | tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into little pieces |
2 | eggs, beaten |
2 | cups whole-wheat flour |
1 | teaspoon salt |
12 | tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into little pieces |
2 | eggs, beaten |
1 | tablespoon unsalted butter |
4 | small or 2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced |
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
6 | ounces goat cheese, at room temperature |
1/2 | teaspoon (heaping) finely chopped fresh rosemary |
1/2 | teaspoon (heaping) finely chopped fresh thyme |
1 | carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick rounds |
1 | sweet potato, sliced into 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick rounds |
1 | turnip, peeled and sliced into 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick rounds |
1 | egg, beaten |
olive oil |
1 | tablespoon unsalted butter |
4 | small or 2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced |
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
6 | ounces goat cheese, at room temperature |
1/2 | teaspoon (heaping) finely chopped fresh rosemary |
1/2 | teaspoon (heaping) finely chopped fresh thyme |
1 | carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick rounds |
1 | sweet potato, sliced into 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick rounds |
1 | turnip, peeled and sliced into 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick rounds |
1 | egg, beaten |
olive oil |
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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