Recently, we delved into spring alliums in our monthly series with GrowNYC, a partnership that highlights seasonal produce from New York's Union Square Greenmarket in creative recipes from ICE chefs.

With April en route, the Greenmarket is gearing up for a season of everything from Swiss chard and asparagus, to broccolini, baby zucchini and more lettuces and herbs than you can imagine. Strawberries and tender rhubarb will also make their debut. With such bounty on tap, our ICE Chef-Instructors, including Pastry & Baking Arts professionals, get wildly creative.

Two of our best-loved Greenmarket recipes are both galettes — one savory and one sweet. Here are tips for recreating them at home:

Think of these galettes as templates for incoming spring and summer produce. In other words, don't be afraid to add or substitute your favorite ingredients for your less favorite ingredients — e.g., swapping goat cheese for feta; adding eggplant, summer squash or mushrooms to the savory pie; and pairing peaches, raspberries and apricots with rhubarb in the sweet pie).
When mixing the buttermilk galette dough, our chefs recommend stopping when you still have visible pea-sized pieces of butter). As the dough bakes, the butter forms pockets and boils, creating the steam necessary for a flaky mouthfeel.
Try not to add too much flour as you’re rolling out the dough. A little sticking to the counter is a good thing, as excess flour will impact the final taste.
For the savory galette, cook your dough and filling simultaneously... but separately. If the vegetables are put into the galette raw, they will be too hard when the dough is cooked through. Instead, roast each vegetable on its own — as they cook at different speeds, too — before filling the galette.
For the sweet galette: Kick this dessert up a notch by adding crumble or frangipane under the fruit in the center.

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Ingredients

For the buttermilk galette dough:

600 grams all-purpose flour
8 grams salt
400 grams butter, cut into 1" cubes and placed in the freezer for a few minutes before using
About 300 grams buttermilk, very cold

For the savory filling:

1 ½ heads of garlic
Salt & pepper to taste
Very flavorful extra-virgin olive oil
2k of filling. (ICE chefs favor a variety of vegetables, for example: zucchini, asparagus, broccolini, Swiss chard, summer squash, eggplant, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.)
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and herbed goat cheese (Cubed feta cheese or grated Gruyére are great swaps.)

For the sweet filling:

2k of filling. (ICE chefs favor rhubarb and strawberry, about 1 kilo each. Fresh apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines also work well and can be combined with blackberries, blueberries or raspberries, if desired.)
150 grams vanilla sugar or plain granulated sugar (The amount of sugar will vary depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Always taste first!)

For the egg wash: mix together the below ingredients and keep chilled

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions

For the buttermilk galette dough:

If using a stand mixer, place flour and salt in mixer bowl. Add cold butter and, using the paddle attachment, cut butter into flour on medium speed. Stop mixing when butter is in pea-sized (but still visible) pieces.
With mixer on slow speed, add cold buttermilk in a thin stream to the flour/butter mixture.
When buttermilk is almost entirely used and mixture is barely holding together in a rough mass, remove it from mixer and pour onto work surface. Add remaining buttermilk, lightly fluffing it into the flour mixture. A few drops more liquid may be needed.
When flour mixture is moist enough to hold together in a rough dough, divide into two flat discs, wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm.
Meanwhile, make galette fillings.

Note: If using a food processor to make the dough, place flour and salt in the processor, add the cold butter and pulse 5-6 times to incorporate butter into flour. Then add the cold buttermilk in 3-4 additions, pulsing after each. Finish the dough on the work surface, same as above.

For the savory galette:

To roast garlic: Break up 1 ½ heads of garlic and put them in foil, unpeeled. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap completely and place in convection oven at 325˚F. Roast about 45 minutes, or until very soft. Let cool, then squeeze soft garlic out of its skin and reserve. Discard the peel.
For the vegetables: Cut zucchini, asparagus and broccolini into bite-size chunks. Place on parchment-lined sheet pan and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss. Roast in the same 325˚F oven until softened and lightly browned at the edges. (Swiss chard can be prepared the same way, but leaves and stems must be roasted separately. Cherry tomatoes can be halved and seasoned, but not roasted. Goat cheese should be cubed.)
Toss veggies, goat cheese, roasted garlic and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano together in a bowl. Adjust seasoning as desired.
Roll out one of the discs of galette dough into a circle of about 14". Place dough on parchment-lined sheet tray. Place cooked filling ingredients in center of circle, leaving a 2" border.
Fold edges of galette dough over filling, pleating it but leaving center of the galette exposed. Brush galette dough with egg wash and sprinkle with more Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Bake galette at 325˚F for 30 minutes, or until dough is golden brown all over. Serve warm or at room temperature.

For the sweet galette:

Lightly peel rhubarb and cut into 1" pieces. Cut strawberries in half.
Place fruit in a bowl and sprinkle with vanilla sugar (changeable depending on fruit filling).
The sweet galette is formed the same way as the savory galette (above).
Brush dough with egg wash and dust with vanilla sugar or plain sugar.
Bake galette at 325˚F for 30 minutes, or until dough is golden brown all over.

Cory Sale

Cory Sale is the Senior Public Relations Manager at ICE and an alumna (Culinary Arts '22). She enjoys writing about seasonal produce almost as much as visiting NYC’s greenmarkets, where she finds new flavors to add to ice cream. When she’s not cooking (or eating), you can find her on the frisbee field chasing down a piece of plastic.