The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

Laziness. Laziness is the reason we made this.

The kids were gone and we had these tomatoes from the garden and we said, “hey, we should just, like, eat these.”

That’s how magic happens, folks.

The Journey:

I’m sure you could do this in any number of varieties, but we made two kinds and they were so good that we didn’t mess with it. So we always make the same:

1. Tomato, sharp cheddar, and chives
2. Tomato, boursin, and basil

It is absolutely mandatory that the tomatoes be fresh from a garden, though. Don’t defame brilliance with your sub-par, tasteless, grocery store tomato-shaped orbs.

The Verdict:

Alright, look. So it’s not really a recipe, and I’m sure I didn’t invent it. It’s tomatoes, cheese, and bread, toasted. It doesn’t matter. IT IS SO RIDICULOUSLY TASTY. Just make it.

The Recipe:

• Tomatoes
• Cheese
• Bread
• Fresh herbs

1. Grow the tomatoes
2. Slice the tomatoes
3. Toast the bread in the broiler or on the grill or in a toaster oven or in a toaster
4. Put some cheese on the bread
5. Put a slice of tomato on the bread
6. Put it back under the broiler or on the grill or in a toaster oven (But NOT back in the toaster! This is important!)
7. Sprinkle some herbs on it.

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

Recently, I received this email from Sara in regards to the recipe:

“This is not on your blog?!  Must be made, photographed, and eaten weekly in august.  Get ready.”

And here we are.

The Journey:

You don’t *have* to start with corn from the grill, but on the other hand, why wouldn’t you?

I really don’t remember how we stumbled upon this recipe in the first place. This is one of those recipes where the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. I mean, sure it sounds good, and that’s why we tried it. But once the first forkful hits your mouth…

I do want to mention that the dough is the stickiest thing you can imagine. Even though I’m telling you this, there will still come a time when you think you’ve made a mistake. You can’t possibly flatten this into something flat, and even if you did, it would never turn out.

That is just a normal part of the process.

Somehow you manage to form this sticky mess into something resembling a sloppy pizza and you think, “What a disaster. I am definitely not making this again.” And then you eat it, and then you don’t really care what it looked like while you were making it.

The Verdict:

Om nom nom nom nom!

This is the perfect summer meal. Tomatoes, corn, and zucchini, and just enough cheese to pull it all together. The crust is like magic; somehow it comes out perfect every time, no matter how sure you are that *this time* you messed it up.

The Recipe:

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen:

For the pastry:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 8 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse Kosher or sea salt
• 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
• Red pepper flakes
• 1 ear corn, cut from the cob (about 1 cup)
• 1 small zucchini or summer squash, diced
• 1 bundle scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan

Glaze:

• 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Make dough:

1. Whisk stir the flour and salt in the food processor.
2. Cut in bits of butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest pieces of butter the size of tiny peas.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture.
4. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

Make filling:

1. Add olive oil, tomatoes, salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes to your saute pan then cover and heat over high heat. Roll the tomatoes around from time to time so that they’ll cook evenly.
2. In a few minutes, you’ll hear some putts and pops as the tomatoes burst a little. When most have, remove lid, turn heat down to medium and add zucchini chunks.
3. Saute for two minutes, until they soften.
4. Add corn and cook one minute.
5. Add scallions, just stirring them in, then turn off heat.
6. Adjust seasonings if needed.
7. Transfer mixture to a large plate and spread it out, so that it will cool faster. You want it cooled to at least lukewarm before assembling the galette.

Assemble galette:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round and it really doesn’t need to be perfectly shaped.
3. Sprinkle tomato-zucchini-corn mixture with half of parmesan and spoon the mixture into the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. If any liquid has puddle in plate, try to leave it there as you spoon.
4. Sprinkle with almost all of remaining parmesan, leaving a pinch or two behind for the crust.
5. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.
6. Brush crust with egg yolk glaze. Sprinkle glaze with last pinches of parmesan.

Bake the galette:

1. For 30 to 40 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown.
2. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.