Potato, pancetta and Taleggio galette recipe from cook, farmer and gardener Julius Roberts

A cheesy, flaky and buttery tart that tastes great with a zingy salad

Prep: 1 hr

Cook: 1 hr

Total: 2 hrs

Serves: 6

Julius Roberts

Published: December 7, 2023 at 9:35 am

Imagine if dauphinoise and tartiflette had a baby and it arrived in the form of a tart. This galette is just that. It gets slowly cooked in the oven until the cheese and pancetta melt and meld with the tender potatoes.

Julius Roberts shares his recipe for a flaky, buttery and biscuity tart that's delicious served hot with a crisp and zingy salad. It’s also a tart that is unusually good cold, so even if it’s just a few of you, make the full tart and enjoy the remaining slices for breakfast.

This recipe is from the book The Farm Table by Julius Roberts, with photographs by Elena
Heatherwick, which is published by Ebury Press, priced £22

Ingredients

800g waxy potatoes
2 large brown onions finely sliced
50g butter
2 tbsps olive oil
1 clove of garlic finely grated
3 tbsps crème fraîche
1 bunch of fresh thyme leaves picked
150-200g Taleggio thinly sliced
150g pancetta thinly sliced
1 egg beaten
1 tbsp fennel seeds
For the galette pastry
Butter, diced small and put in the freezer For the galette pastry
For the galette pastry
For the galette pastry
1 For the galette pastry

Methods

Step 1
Peel the potatoes and slice very thinly with a mandolin. Place in a colander and give them a rinse under the tap to wash away the excess starch, then leave to drain.
Step 2
Put the onions, butter and half the olive oil into a pan on a medium heat, season well with salt and cook slowly until they are sweet and tender, but be careful they don’t brown. When ready, after 10-15 minutes, set aside to cool.
Step 3
To make the pastry, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the flour, two-thirds of the cold butter and a generous pinch of salt. Turn on and mix until the flour is beginning to look like breadcrumbs. Then add the remaining butter and mix until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, but with chunks of butter throughout; this is what makes it flaky later on. At this point, add the vinegar and half the water and mix briefly to combine.
Step 4
Now turn the mixer off and push the pastry down against the bowl to see if it comes together as one; if it doesn’t, it may need a splash more water. When you feel the mixture is cohesive enough, bring the dough together by pressing it (rather than kneading, which results in a tough pastry) into a disk about 7cm high, then wrap in baking parchment and allow to rest in the fridge for half an hour.
Step 5
Once the potatoes are dry, transfer to a bowl along with the onions, garlic, crème fraîche, thyme, remaining olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well by hand, separating out the slices and working the crème fraîche into every cranny. Preheat the oven to 220°C fan.
Step 6
Roll out the pastry on a sheet of baking parchment with a little flour to stop it sticking. By rolling away from you and turning the pastry ever so slightly with each roll, you should get an even thickness all round. You’re looking for a wide disk about 4-5mm thick. Carefully pull the parchment and pastry on to a sufficiently large tray.
Step 7
Leaving a 6-8cm border around the edge that you can fold over later, start neatly piling on the potato mix. Once you have an even layer, follow with roughly a quarter of the Taleggio and pancetta, then add another layer of potatoes. Repeat until you’ve used most, if not all, of the potatoes, making sure it has cohered together and the top is even.
Step 8
Finish with a few slices of Taleggio, then fold over the edges of the galette, creasing them together with your fingers so they hold. Brush the beaten egg over the pastry and sprinkle over fennel seeds and a little sea salt.
Step 9
Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180°C fan and cook for 50 minutes-1 hour, until the potatoes are properly tender when skewered with a knife. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for five minutes, then slice and enjoy.

Julius Roberts

Julius Roberts is a first-generation farmer and restaurant trained chef, on a mission to live a self-sufficient life down on his family smallholding in Dorset, whilst also cultivating the finest ingredients, and cooking and eating the very best food.

Potato, pancetta and Taleggio galette recipe from cook, farmer and gardener Julius Roberts

Ingredients

Methods

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

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Potato, pancetta and Taleggio galette recipe from cook, farmer and gardener Julius Roberts

Ingredients

Methods

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

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