Home » Vegetables » Savory Galette with Tomato, Corn, Caramelized Onions & Gruyère
4.8 from 8 reviews
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This galette, filled with caramelized onions, fresh corn, basil, Gruyère cheese and heirloom tomatoes, is prefect for the end of summer. Serve it with a simple mixed greens salad or a cucumber-and-feta cheese plate for a light, vegetarian meal. Yum.
The recipe comes from the August 2000 issue of Fine Cooking Magazine, which was fantastic. Two of my all-time favorite recipes hail from that issue — from one article in fact — and I have been making them now for almost 20 years. I feel old.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but David Lebovitz, author of The Perfect Scoop, wrote the article and supplied the two fabulous tart dough recipes, one sweet, one savory. The sweet galette dough is used in this recipe as well as this one, and the savory cornmeal galette dough is used in the above pictured tart, and it is so tasty.
Once you make this tart once, you’ll see how quickly savory galettes can materialize how easily adaptable they are for all seasons. I suggest keeping the caramelized onions, the Gruyère, and some sort of herb, then swapping in whatever seasonal produce you have on hand for the corn and tomatoes. A favorite variation of mine is sautéed Swiss chard. More on this soon.
The original recipe for this tart calls for onions as opposed to leeks. I used leeks because I received a whole bunch in my CSA, but truthfully, I think this tart is tastier with onions. Use whatever you have. Gruyère is particularly tasty, but any cheese you have on hand will do.
Assembling these tarts is easy: Simply spread the corn and caramelized onion (or leek) mixture into the center of the dough; top with cheese; top with the tomatoes; then fold the edges up to make a free-form tart.
This is another recipe from the same issue of Fine Cooking, and it is so good. Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. The key is to keep your oven at 375ºF; bake only 6 cookies on a sheet at one time; and remove them from the oven after 11 minutes — they won’t look done but they continue cooking on the sheet. For kicks, I added a little fleur de sel to the tops of these before baking. Here’s the recipe.
Tomato, Corn and Cheese Galette with Fresh Basil
5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star
4.8 from 8 reviews
- Author: Alexandra Stafford
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
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Description
Source: David Lebovitz via Fine Cooking Magazine
Note: You can split the dough in half and made two small tarts or 1 large tart.
Ingredients
Cornmeal Galette Dough
- 1–1/4 cups (142 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (43 g) fine yellow cornmeal
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1–1/4 tsp. salt
- 6 T. (3 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
- 2 T. olive oil
- 1/4 cup ice water
Finishing the tart:
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
- 1/2 bunch basil or tarragon, washed, dried, and coarsely chopped, (to yield about 1/2 cup); plus 10 whole leaves
- Kernels from 1 ear of corn (about 1 cup)
- 1 recipe Cornmeal Galette Dough (see above)
- 1 large or 2 medium ripe tomatoes (about 3/4 lb. total) cut into 1/3-inch slices, drained on paper towels
- 3 oz. Comté or Gruyère cheese, shredded
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Make the dough: In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt. Cut in the chilled butter using a stand mixer, a food processor, or a pastry blender until it’s evenly distributed but still in large, visible pieces. Add the olive oil and ice water and mix until the dough begins to come together. Gather the dough with your hands and shape it into a disk. Wrap the disk in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- To make the galette: Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, about 10 min. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic, chopped basil, and corn and cook for 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside to cool.
- Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet, preferably one without sides, with kitchen parchment. (If your baking sheet has sides, flip it over and use the back.)
- Roll the dough on a floured surface into a 15-inch round, lifting the dough with a metal spatula as you roll to make sure it’s not sticking. If it is, dust the surface with more flour. Transfer it by rolling it around the rolling pin and unrolling it on the lined baking sheet.
- Spread the onion and corn mixture over the dough, leaving a 2-inch border without filling. Update 7-16-2014: Sprinkle the cheese over the onions and corn. Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer over the cheese and season them with salt and pepper. Lift the edges of the dough and fold them inward over the filling, pleating as you go, to form a folded-over border. Pinch together any tears in the dough. Brush the egg yolk and water mixture over the exposed crust.
- Bake until the crust has browned and the cheese has melted, 35 to 45 min. Slide the galette off the parchment and onto a cooling rack. Let cool for 10 min. Stack the remaining 10 basil leaves and use a sharp knife to cut them into a chiffonade. Cut the galette into wedges, sprinkle with the basil, and serve.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: French, American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
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Leave a Comment & Rate this Recipe
Ken —Reply
Made this last night with the last of the season’s corn and one last, lonely tomato that had to be harvested green before a frost and was left to ripen for over a week on the window ledge. Added some garlic and substituted fresh thyme for the basil (no more basil), asiago for the gruyere (didn’t have it). Added some more garlic. Threw in some chopped cilantro at the last minute. Threw a little cheese on the tomatoes before baking. Loved it. Could have used a little heat–maybe half a jalapeno or an entire chopped serrano. I’ll definitely be making this again.
Amy@OldSweetSong —Reply
OH, I’ve seen both of these recipes before… IN MY DREAMS.
Holy delicious/food org*sm!
2friendscooking —Reply
Heavens and delight! To have discovered yuor blog! Everything is gorgious..the dishes ..the photos! Bravissima!
Lori —Reply
A very beautiful galette. Your pictures always capture me. They are rustic, eye popping, homey and beautiful.
Jessica —Reply
Wow…I made this today because I wanted to try something different. It took about two hours, but was well worth it! It was ridiculously delicious, I couldn’t get over how great it tasted because I’ve never made a galette before! Anyway, I did put my cheese over the tomatoes, but it came out looking still a bit like yours, just with cheesy tomatoes :). I also added homemade barbeque chicken but into small bits (I was in a chicken mood). I gave my friend to taste and she is still telling me how good it was!!
I will definitely make this again. I love your blog, its so real and your honest reviews help all the time. Thanks!
Jim —Reply
we made the galette tonight. It was fantastic!
Tora Estep —Reply
These look so delicious and beautiful! I will definitely have to try something like this when the tomatoes really start coming in.
Sharyn Dimmick —Reply
I’ve been making David Lebovitz’ tomato tart since I saw it last year, generally with heirloom tomatoes and lemon Stilton, swathed in my Mom’s Swedish pie crust. I make corn, cheese and tomato quesadillas for quick summer lunches, but I had not thought to make a tart like this one. Brilliant. I’ll be trying something similar before summer is out.
SARA —Reply
Question…your pics show the cheese as being UNDER the tomatoes but in your directions, you instruct to sprinkle the cheese OVER the tomatoes. Is this just an oops? The tomatoes look so beautiful in your pics that I would hate to ruin that by covering them with cheese! Thanks!
alexandracooks —Reply
SARA — Yes! Big oops! I have been meaning to make a note of this, oh, for almost three years now. I am sorry for the confusion on this. I don’t think it makes too much of a difference flavor-wise where you place the cheese, but I think you are right about the visual presentation — the cheese looks better under the tomatoes, especially if you have some pretty tomatoes on hand. Hope that helps!
Emily —Reply
This was my first ever galette and I loved it! I included this recipe in my most recent weekly meal plan at rainbowdelicious.com. I love all your recipes!
alexandracooks —Reply
Emily — so happy to hear this! And thank you for your nice words. This galette is one of my all-time favorite recipes. Truly. So glad you liked it too.
talley —Reply
Ali! I’m just getting back to cooking after welcoming Alice to the world on Aug 1st (more to come). I made this tart the other night and we absolutely loved it. The crust is incredible. I used 1TBSP of sugar instead of 1tsp and I might just continue making it that way. Anyway, I mostly just wanted to let you know that it was delicious and to remind you to make it if you haven’t in a while. So much catching up to do on your blog! Also – I have no idea how you manage to keep cooking and blogging with three little ones, I haven’t been able to find the time to do a post since Alice was born let alone a post every week.
alexandracooks —Reply
Talley Talley!! It is so wonderful to hear from you. I have been thinking about you. Darcy emailed me about Alice, and I kept waiting for a blog post but nothing came in my inbox. Will check your site now. I absolutely adore the name Alice, and I hope she is being a good dolly for you. Please post a million pictures immediately? And don’t despair — the hardest adjustment for me right when Ella arrived…so many changes, unknowns, sleepless nights. You’ll get the hang of it before you know it. I wish we could chat. Better, I wish I could fly over and see you. I am so excited for your little family. Sending lots of love. xoxo
alice —Reply
I made this tart for dinner last night and I definitely was not disappointed! Actually, I impressed myself – it looked just like your picture! I really like the dough recipe. The cornmeal gives it a nice little crunch. FYI, I added some sliced zucchini just cause I had some in the fridge. It would be nice to use this crust in the winter. Any suggestions for a filling? Maybe some sort of spinach filling? Anyway, many thanks for a great recipe.
alexandracooks —Reply
So wonderful to hear this! I love this dough recipe, too — the cornmeal adds such a nice flavor. Zucchini sounds like an amazing addition. Ok, as for winter, I feel like some sautéed kale or chard or any dark leafy green — definitely spinach! — would be nice. Some thinly sliced, briefly blanched butternut squash might also be yummy, too. I know this combo sounds odd — starch on starch — but I have made a butternut squash pizza with crispy sage that is so good: https://alexandracooks.com/2011/10/21/butternut-squash-and-crispy-sage-pizza-five-minutes-a-day-style/ Hope that helps!
penelope —Reply
Delicious! The dough was not what I expected, but excellent. I had to add a bit more flour and cornmeal because it was so sticky (eyeballed the oil, may have accidentally added too much…) but still baked up a treat; kind of fragile and crumbly like shortbread yet held it shape. I served it with a chilled tomato-avocado-prawn salsa and it was the perfect lunch for a sunny day in Melbourne 🙂
alexandracooks —Reply
Oh that lunch sounds amazing! The salsa sounds like the perfect accompaniment to the galette. I have to be honest, I haven’t made this dough in a little while so I’m forgetting how it handle, but I do love how the cornmeal gives the dough some nice texture. Sorry it gave you a little bit of trouble!
Shannon —Reply
Hi, this looks terrific. I have a question – in the pictures the tomatoes are on top but in the instructions you say to put the cheese on top of the tomatoes. Which is the preferred method? Thank you.
alexandra —Reply
Shannon — I have been meaning to make a note on this for years! Sorry about the confusion. I am going to change the wording now. You can do either. I think it looks prettier with the tomatoes on top, but, honestly, in the end it really doesn’t matter. I prefer tomatoes on top. Hope that helps!
Alyssa —Reply
Loved the cornmeal addition to the crust and the filling was awesome! The flavor combinations in the filling was awesome! I used red onion because thats what I had on hand and it was great! The only problem I ran into was the crust was a little under cooked. I did not put the egg yolk/milk combination on it. Would that have done anything different?
alexandra —Reply
Hi Alyssa — So happy to hear this! Except for the crust situation of course. I don’t think the egg wash would have made a difference — was it the underside that was undercooked or the exposed crust? I have a few thoughts: 1. Maybe you could have rolled the dough out a little thinner? If so, a thinner crust will crisp up more quickly and cook more evenly. 2. What kind of sheetpan were you baking it on? Could it have been insulated? I doubt this is the case, but I have one insulated baking pan that always causes issues when I’m baking. Let me know, and I’ll keep thinking!
Cynthia Hill —Reply
Cheese better under tomatoes – helps to prevent crust from getting soggy!
alexandra —Reply
Yes! Agreed.
Lisa Corrigan —Reply
I was thinking this would be a great thing to make for dinner but I do not have cornmeal on hand. Could I substitute semolina flour or perhaps more regular flour?
alexandra —Reply
Yes, absolutely! Just use more ap flour or semolina.
Susan —Reply
Is there a way to make the crust with all olive oil? Thanks.
alexandra —Reply
I worry it will give you trouble when rolling it out … I think it will be too soft/crumbly.
Fredro —Reply
Nice post!
Joyce —Reply
Dough is chilling BUT recipe reads 1 egg with water but directions say “egg yolk and milk to spread on dough… probably won’t matter (I hope))!!
Will it be ok to refrigerate after cooking to serve next day?Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Oops! Thanks for catching that … I edited to say “water” in place of milk.
Apologies for the delay here! I’m probably getting to you too late. Yes, you definitely can refrigerate it. I would heat it at 350ºF for 15 minutes (at least) before serving to bring it a bit back to life.
Hope it turned out well!
Joyce —Reply
I actually used a little cream with egg yolk and it was delicious!! I doubled the recipe and we finished the leftovers today. Thanks for another great recipe!!
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Wonderful to hear! Thanks for reporting back 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ruman Ali —Reply
Hey… The recipe looks delicious, I love making pastry dough. But don’t have a food processor, can I make it by hand.
Also, any substitute for cornmeal?Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Yes, absolutely you can make it by hand! I would simply omit the cornmeal and use an equal amount of flour in its place.
Abby —Reply
This is my go-to savory galette recipe – delicious as-is and endlessly adaptable! I’ve used combinations of tomato, zucchini, corn, pesto, basil, cheese, etc and they’re all winners. Planning to make it tonight with tomatoes, basil and pimento cheese since we have a big tub we need to use up!
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Abby so nice to hear this! And YUM to the big tub of pimento cheese. Heaven!
Karen —Reply
Going to make this for a second time. Very tasty recipe. I love using my garden tomatoes. I’m serving it as an appetizer tomorrow. Following recipe except I am using a different dough recipe. I had a hard time getting the cornmeal crust together. It was still delicious. Thanks.
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
The crust is tricky! I keep meaning to do a video. Glad you like the filling, Karen!
Michelle Maclise —Reply
Phenomenal recipe and very easy to make! I had all the ingredients in my house except I subbed the cornmeal with semolina and it came together so much better than I imagined. I took it to my in-laws house and everyone raved. Definitely putting this in my favorites!
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Great to hear, Michelle! Thanks so much for writing. This is one of oldest, most favorite recipes on the blog.
Annie —Reply
I made this tonight! Wow such a great recipe! I had some oven roasted peppers and onions on hand from another recipe and then made it as written – used cherry tomatoes from my garden- so great!
I love your blog – you are making good food assessable for all of us🙏 will definitely make it again!Alexandra Stafford —Reply
So nice to hear this, Annie 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thank you for your kind words, too.
Nancy —Reply
Made this earlier this week as my contribution for a girls night to the beautiful American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI using my garden tomatoes and basil. It was my first time making a galette and it turned out so beautifully. I used my food processor and the dough came together easily after freezing the butter chunks for a few minutes. Thank you for another great recipe!
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Great to hear, Nancy! How nice to your homegrown tomatoes, too. Such a treat. Thanks for writing 🙂
