If you have never had a galette before, you are in for a treat. A galette is a kind of french pastry dough (that we make with corn meal, although that isn't necessarily the norm) that is wrapped around savory or sweet fillings to make a free-form tart. In the past Tucker has made some delicious cheese and mushroom, cheese and spinach, and fruit galettes. This time, we made it with zucchini, ricotta, caramelized onions, and Parmesan cheese on top.

Zucchini And Ricotta Galettes
adapted from Epicurious

Crust:
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Filling:

5 2/3 cups coarsely grated zucchini (about 1 1/3 pounds)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
4 tablespoons butter, divided
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation


For crust:
Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl. Using fingertips, rub butter into flour mixture until coarse meal forms. Add 4 tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoonful at a time, stirring until dough forms moist clumps, and adding more water by teaspoonfuls as needed if dough is too dry. Form dough into 2 balls; flatten each into disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes before rolling out.

For filling:
Place zucchini in colander set over large bowl. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt and toss to coat. Let drain 30 minutes. Working in batches, squeeze zucchini in kitchen towel to remove as much liquid as possible.


Melt 2 tablespoons butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add zucchini; reduce heat to medium-low and cook until zucchini is tender, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Whisk ricotta cheese, 1/3 cup Parmesan, egg, lemon peel, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Stir in cooled zucchini mixture.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1 dough disk to 1/8-inch thickness. Using 6-inch-diameter plate, cut out 3 dough rounds. Repeat with remaining dough. Place 3 dough rounds on each baking sheet.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Spoon 1/2 cup filling into center of 1 dough round, leaving 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch border. Carefully fold up border, pleating dough edges to create round pastry with about 2 to 21/2 inches of exposed filling in center. Repeat with remaining filling and dough rounds. Brush crusts with melted butter. Drizzle any remaining melted butter over filling in centers. Sprinkle galettes with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Bake galettes 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Bake until crust is golden and filling is set and begins to brown, about 25 minutes longer. Run spatula under galettes to loosen. Let rest 5 minutes. do ahead Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

These were heavenly in part because the corn was so fresh and sweet and partly because we used half super stinky cheddar and half super sharp cheddar. The original recipe called for chives and part corn meal instead of all flour, but we were working with limited ingredients at a vacation house. But in the end, they were still so delicious! I don't have any pictures of the finished product because they were gone so fast!

Inspired by Mark Bittman's Paella Project, Tucker and I decided to make some paella. I don't eat a lot of shellfish so this was a chicken and shrimp paella, but the seafood broth gives it a nice seafoody taste. There isn't really a base recipe for this, and we Tucker can't remember exactly how he made this, so I'll just list what went into the paella and you can figure out the rest yourself :)

Tucker's Late Summer Veggie Paella

Chicken thighs

Small frozen shrimp

A few bunches of leeks

6 ears of corn, cut off the cob

Two red peppers, roasted in the oven and peeled

A whole bag of paella rice

About a half a liter of seafood broth

A whole head of garlic

Onions

Crushed red pepper

Note, in this picture the gnocchi is accompanied by a simple beet, corn, and onion salad

Potato Gnocchi with Pesto
from Cooks Illustrated, with some adaptations

Pesto
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
4 medium cloves garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Table salt

Gnocchi
2 pounds russet potatoes (or other baking potatoes), washed
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour , plus more as needed
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon table salt , plus more for cooking liquid

Instructions

1. For Pesto: Place pine nuts and garlic into toaster oven and toast for 2-3 minutes. Place basil, garlic, and pine nuts in workbowl of food processor. Process, scraping down sides as needed, until minced. With motor still running, slowly pour oil through feed tube and process until smooth. Scrape pesto into bowl. Stir in cheese and salt to taste.

2. For Gnocchi: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake potatoes until a metal skewer slides easily through them, 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on size.

3. Hold potato with a pot holder or kitchen towel and peel it with a vegetable peeler or paring knife; rice peeled potato into a large bowl. Peel and rice remaining potatoes. Cool until potatoes are no longer hot, about 15 minutes.

4. Sprinkle 1 1/4 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt over warm potatoes. Using your hands, work mixture into a soft, smooth dough. If dough is sticky (which is often the case), add more flour as needed, up to 1 1/2 cups total.

5. Roll about one-quarter of dough into a long 3/4-inch-thick rope. If rope won’t hold together, return it to bowl with remaining dough and work in more flour as needed. Repeat until all dough is rolled.

6. Cut rope of dough into 3/4-inch lengths . Holding butter paddle or fork in one hand, press each piece of cut dough against ridged surface with index finger to make an indentation in center. Roll dough down and off ridges and allow it to drop to work surface.

7. Bring 4 quarts of water to low boil in large pot. Add 2 teaspoons salt or to taste. Add about one-third of the gnocchi and cook until they float, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes (about 3 minutes for frozen gnocchi). Retrieve gnocchi with slotted spoon and transfer to warm, shallow serving bowl or platter. Repeat cooking process with remaining gnocchi. Gently toss gnocchi with pesto and serve immediately.

Grilled Turkey Burger with Cheddar and Smoky Alioli
Before you get scared, it isn't real, homemade ali-oli, you start from jarred mayonnaise, much simpler than making your own. We made these even more decadent with some crispy turkey bacon as well as grilled red onion, red pepper, and jalapeños. Delicious!

Tamarind Glazed Turkey Burgers

I love grilling season!