Fresh Spinach & Ricotta Galette ~ EXCELLENT

 NOTES:

• 1 lb. of fresh spinach = 6 cups leaves = 1 & 3/4 cups cooked. 
• To cook fresh spinach like the stuff in a frozen 10 oz. box, just clean the leaves, chop, and steam it. Squeeze the water out of the leaves, and you're ready to cook. I hope this is of help.
• One standard 10-ounce package of frozen spinach equates to approximately 1 1/2 pounds of fresh spinach

Spinach-Ricotta Galettes and Tartelettes
Makes about 10 2" tartelettes or 6 4" galettes

For pastry crust:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 Tbsp cold butter (I used salted sweet cream butter)
• ~1 Tbsp ice water

For filling:

• 1/2 medium shallot
• 1 clove garlic
• 3/4 cup frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to damp
• 1/3 cup ricotta
• 1-2 Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• Basil (I prefer fresh, but my basil plant is in St. Louis at the moment, so I used dried)
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil

To make the crust, chop the butter into 1/2 inch slices and combine in a food processor with the flour. You can do this by hand as well, but appliances make it easy. Pulse the food processor a few times until the mixture consists of small balls of flour and butter, almost cornmeal-y. If the mixture is too dry, add a LITTLE BIT of cold water, then pulse again. Don't over-do the water - you don't want soggy dough. The mixture should by quite dry (but not crumbly) and able to be formed into a ball. Dump the mixture out onto a cutting board and mash it all together with your hands and make sure the butter is well-distributed and it is smooth. Form the dough into a ball, flatten it a little, then wrap it in foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a pan. Mince the garlic and chop the shallot and put it in the pan, frying for only about a minute to soften the shallot. Don't burn your garlic! Remove the pan from the heat and dump in your spinach. Give it a good stir, letting it cook just a bit, then forget about it for awhile.

When your crust is cold, take it out of its covering and cut off a small chunk. Spread a little flour on a cutting board and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. It should end up very thin!

For tartelettes, cut a 6" diameter piece (it doesn't have to be a circle or any specific shape for that matter) and place it in a small, round baking dish of some kind, like a ramekin or even a cupcake pan, and form it to the edges.  Place about 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons of your spinach mixture in the bottom of the crust and flatten it just a bit.  Grab about 2 teaspoons of ricotta and form it into a ball, then flatten it in your hands to make a small disk, then place this on top of the spinach (half of the fun in cooking is getting your hands messy!).  Place 1 tomato slice on top, drizzle or brush the tomato with a tiny bit of olive oil, and top with a little sea salt, black pepper, and basil.

For galettes, cut a 6" diameter piece (once again, it doesn't have to be any certain shape) and stack the ingredients the same way in the middle of the dough, trying to keep them in a neat(ish) circle.  Fold up the edges of the dough around the fillings to make a nice little free-standing tart.
Put your galettes or tartelettes in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes or until your pastry is nicely toasted and the filling is hot.  I kept my galette in about 5 minutes longer and bumped up the heat to 400 to better brown the crust.

These turned out beautifully, and the crust was perfectly flaky and savory.  All the flavors combined very nicely and - this does not happen often - I would make this exactly the same way again and be 100% happy with it.  The only change I might make would be toasting the shells of the tartelettes for a few minutes before adding the filling because the bottoms were a little too soft from the liquid of the spinach.  I ate 4 tartelettes and 1 galette, so they are not particularly filling, but they make a fabulous appetizer, snack, or side dish.  Enjoy!