Skillet Tomato Galette
A sun-dried tomato and parmesan tart baked in a cast iron skillet over coals.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 111
- protein
- 10 g
- serves
- 6
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 65 min
- water
- 120 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 1 1/2 cups | premeasured at home with the salt |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered shortening or shelf-stable butter powder | 1/2 cup | solid vegetable shortening in a jar also works and needs no water |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cold water | about 1/2 cup | add a little at a time |
| Sun-dried tomatoes in oil | 1 cup, drained and sliced | a jar rides fine without a cooler until opened |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | the oil off the tomatoes counts |
| Grated parmesan | 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp | the shelf-stable green-can kind |
| Dried basil | 1 tbsp | |
| Powdered egg | 1 tbsp powder plus 2 tbsp water | for the crust wash |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals well before you want to eat. You want a bed you can hold a hand over for three seconds, not flames.
- Mix the flour, salt, and shortening in a bag or bowl until it looks like coarse gravel. Add cold water a splash at a time until it holds together. Do not knead it.
- Press and stretch the dough into a rough 14-inch round on a piece of parchment. A water bottle works as a rolling pin.
- Lay the dough in a 12-inch cast iron skillet with the edges hanging over. Brush the bottom with olive oil, then scatter on 1/2 cup parmesan and the dried basil.
- Shingle the tomato slices from the center outward until the floor is covered. Grind pepper over them.
- Fold the overhanging dough in over the edge of the filling. Whisk the egg powder with water and brush the folded crust, then dust it with the last tablespoon of parmesan.
- Set the skillet on a grate over the coals and put a lid or foil over it. Shovel a few coals on top for heat from above.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the skillet a quarter turn every ten minutes. It is done when the crust is browned and firm at the fold.
- Let it sit five minutes before cutting or the bottom tears.
Fresh heirloom tomatoes are mostly water, which is why the original calls for salting and draining them. On a trip you skip that problem entirely: sun-dried tomatoes in oil are already concentrated, already shelf-stable, and they will not turn the crust to paste. The oil they sit in replaces the fresh olive oil, so nothing is wasted.
The rest of the substitutions are about the cooler you do not have. Powdered shortening and powdered egg make the dough and the wash without refrigeration, and hard grated parmesan keeps for weeks in a bag. Heat control is the real skill here — coals under the skillet cook the bottom, coals on the lid brown the crust, and without the second half you get a pale, floppy fold.
Packing
Flour, shortening powder, salt, parmesan, basil, pepper, and egg powder go in one labeled bag as the dry kit. The tomato jar and oil ride upright in a hard corner of the bin. Bring parchment; it is the difference between a galette and a scrape job.
Variations
- Swap the tomatoes for a jar of roasted red peppers, drained hard on a bandana.
- A handful of olives under the tomatoes adds salt and fat.
- No skillet lid: cover with heavy foil crimped to the rim and pile coals on that.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/heirloom-tomato-galette