Recipes

Sausage, Cep and Chestnut Galette
This recipe was created by my friend cookery writer Claire Thomson of 5 o’clock apron to celebrate the release of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau about which we’ve just made a reel which you can find on my instagram feed @food_writer.
I’ve generally gone down the easy (and typically French) route of recommending it with charcuterie and cheese but she’s come up with a delicious galette (open-topped pie) that would make a great main course for a Beaujolais nouveau supper. It’s super-easy to rustle up too.
We tried it with the 2024 Chateau de Vaux Beaujolais Villages which I was sent to try by Christopher Piper Wines which is brimming with cherry flavours and great value at £10.94.
Serves 4
Pastry
125g 00 plain flour
125g wholemeal flour
150g cold butter, diced
1 egg beaten with pinch of salt
Galette filling
Handful of dried cep or porcini, soaked for 15 mins in boiling water, drained (keep the water for another recipe)
150g button mushrooms, sliced
2 red onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic
3 sprigs of thyme
3 best quality sausages
Big knob of extra butter
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt (egg wash)
4 - 6 chestnuts, coarsely grated (you can buy them in a vac pack)
Parmesan
Claire served this with a salad of watercress, russet apple, hazelnut and parsley dressed with red wine vinaigrette (and I served it rather less healthily, as you can see, with new potatoes and Brussel tops!)
Claire writes: Make the pastry, I used a food processor to pulse, then added the egg and splash of very cold water to bring the mix together. I refrigerated it overnight. Roll the pastry out approx 1/2 cm thick & 38cm round and refrigerate again on a baking sheet.
Cook the onions, garlic and thyme for 10 mins over medium heat till softened. Add both mushrooms and cook for 5 mins to soften. Add thyme, salt and pepper. Off the heat, add sausages (removed from casings). Arrange this in the centre of the pastry, leaving a border. Pull the sides over to create a border of approx 5cm. (See Claire’s reel)
Egg wash the pastry and cook in at 190°C/160°fan/375°F/Gas 5 for around 40 - 45 mins. Remove from the oven and grate over the chestnuts and parmesan to serve.
What else to drink: Other light juicy reds such as a pinot noir or cinsault would work too.

Chocolate, banana and hazelnut galette
If you're a chocolate-lover - or buying a present for one - you're going to want to get your hands on a copy of Sue Quinn's The Little Chocolate Cookbook which is full of really original and delicious recipes including this chocolate, banana and hazelnut galette.
As Sue says "Antony and Cleopatra. Meghan and Harry. Gin and tonic. Chocolate and banana. Some couplings are just meant to be. This is a quick and delicious dessert you can make from pantry ingredients. Perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a cloud of whipped cream on top."
Serves 6
200g/7oz plain [all-purpose] flour
60g/2¼oz caster [superfine] sugar
50g/1¾oz ground hazelnuts
pinch of salt
125g/4½oz cold unsalted butter, chopped
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp runny honey
100g/3½oz dark chocolate (60–70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
3 medium ripe bananas
1–2 tbsp demerara [light brown] sugar, for sprinkling
1 egg lightly beaten with a splash of milk, for egg wash
First, make your dough. Using a fork or balloon whisk, whisk the flour, caster sugar, ground hazelnuts and salt together in a bowl to combine. Transfer to a food processor, add the butter and pulse to a breadcrumb consistency. Add the egg yolks, a little at a time, pulsing between additions, to make a shaggy dough. Tip out onto a work surface, knead briefly and shape into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4 and place a baking sheet inside to heat. Warm the honey in a small pan and set aside.
Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of baking paper into a circle roughly 35cm/14in in diameter. Carefully peel off the top layer of paper. Using a bowl, plate or pan lid as a guide, mark out (but don’t cut!) a circle roughly 22cm/8½in in diameter in the centre of the dough. Using a sharp knife, cut out a circle 32cm/12½in in diameter around the marked-out circle; there should be a 5-cm/2-in border between the marked-out circle and the edge of the pastry.
Scatter the chopped chocolate within the border of the marked-out circle. Thinly slice the bananas and arrange neatly on top of the chocolate. Brush the bananas with the warmed honey and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the demerara sugar.
Fold the border inwards, pleating and gently pressing to form a neat edge as you go. Brush the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Quickly slide the galette on its paper onto the hot baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes until golden and crisp underneath. Serve immediately.
What to drink:
A sticky Rutherglen muscat would be perfect with this.
From The Little Chocolate Cookbook by Sue Quinn (Quadrille, £10) Photography ©Yuki Sugiura
See also Rosie Sykes' Chocolate Banana Tahini Brownie
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