If this recipe were a mood, it would be sitting on a patio on a modest farm in the South of France, gazing across at the stretches of rolling countryside, your nostrils filled with the sweet mixture of garlic and fruity white wine as you tuck into this light and refreshing dinner.

I’d imagine that if I lived on a farm, I wouldn’t have to go far to grab all the ingredients for this recipe, and that’s what gives it such a rustic feeling in my opinion. Mushroom hunting on my daily walk around the grounds, plucking the bright green kale leaves and digging up the onions from the backyard before straining the curds of my homemade goats cheese. Sigh, in another lifetime.

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For now, I’ll have to contend with trudging to Trader Joe’s at 8am on a Saturday (masked so nobody can see my discontent), never knowing just what happened to the mushrooms between their germination and their arrival at the supermarket and praying that the organic kale is truly organic.

Until then, amicus meus, I’ll leave you too to dream of countryside villas and pandemic-free lifestyles whilst you sit for the world as we know it to return to some semblance of normalcy.

Rustic Countryside Mushroom Kale Ricotta Galette

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of puff pastry (homemade or store-bought is fine)
• about 4 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 250g fresh button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 cup kale, washed and roughly chopped
• salt and pepper for seasoning
• 100g goat cheese
• 2 tbsp fresh cream
• 1 egg, beaten

Method:

1. Start by caramelising the onions. Drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil into the bottom of a large saucepan on high heat. Throw in the onions, making sure they’re in a single layer, and cook for about 5 minutes without stirring or until translucent. Reduce the heat to low and leave to caramelise for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when the onions are a deep golden-brown colour and are sweet to the taste. When done, throw in about a ¼ cup of water to deglaze the pan, stirring to incorporate all the flavourful fond collected at the bottom of the pot back into the onions. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in another saucepan on medium-high heat and cook the garlic and mushrooms together, stirring frequently. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant and the mushrooms are shrunken in size. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and throw in the kale, cooking until just slightly wilted but still bright green, about 2 minutes. Season again to taste before removing from heat.
3. Preheat your oven to 180C/350F. Roll the pastry into a 10inx20in rectangle onto a large sheet of parchment paper. Whisk the goat cheese and fresh cream together in a small bowl until the cheese is at a spreadable consistency. Feel free to add more cream until you get there. Spread ¾ of the goat cheese mixture onto the bottom of the rolled pastry, leaving a 1 inch border. Cover the cheese spread with the caramelised onions and top with the mushroom/kale mixture. Dollop the remaining goat cheese on top of the galette. Fold the edges of the pastry along the border towards the centre of the pastry, creating the circular galette border. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg before baking.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden-brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy! Leftovers can be kept for up to 4 days in a sealed contained in the refrigerator.