December: Butternut Squash Galette
On election night, I baked a galette. It's a hearty fall recipe filled with cheese and bright colors that can feed two people for days on end. Both Emily and I had worked late that day, so I went about the motions of baking this galette half-exhausted, half-anxious. We kept the television on in the background and assumed that the galette would be something we packed for lunch or ate for dinner in the hopeful days ahead. It takes about 30 minutes to roast the squash, then 30 or 40 minutes to bake the galette. By the time I pulled it from the oven, bubbling and golden, I wasn't hungry anymore. The election results were rolling in.
It seems like a moot point to think about election night, or even to write about food, but I've been trying to lean into my discomforts. Comfort was not something I ever considered as a roadblock to a better world until years ago, when I read Sarah Schulman's The Gentrification of the Mind. There's an entire chapter about how our avoidance of the uncomfortable keeps us from the difficult conversations, the consciousness raising, the paradigm shifts that are needed to end white supremacy, or any system of oppression. I'd always avoided reading academic or "idea-y" books because I told myself I wasn't smart enough for them, but what if I avoided them because their ideas could spur me into discomfort, and from there, into change. I hadn't realized what a comfortable privilege I was operating in until I started to lean into that uncomfortable place, to look at myself and my subtle actions, my words, the beliefs I didn't even know I had until I held still long enough to look at their origins. Just because I'm a liberal queer person living in New York doesn't mean I'm exempt from the racist undertones (and overtones) of America. What does it mean to take responsibility for one's whiteness, or one's family history, or one's country?
Showing Up For Racial Justice is an incredible organization that aims to help white folks organize other white folks for racial justice. I'm confident that I could ask nearly any white person in my neighborhood or my family or my hometown if they believed in racial justice, but then to follow through on that belief with action can require not only time, but often discomfort. I was raised not to even think about my own whiteness, but to take it for granted. The township I was raised in is literally called Whiteland. I've often shied away from writing about race because I tell myself I don't know enough, or am not academic enough, or activist enough. One of the things I love most about the SURJ meetings I've attended is their reminder that you don't have to be perfect to start working towards racial justice. It's more important to start.
I'm grateful for all of the action items that are people are sharing and posting and rallying around. What's different from one month ago is that now I know the names of my representatives. I'm reading the newspaper every morning. I'm trying to have more uncomfortable conversations with the people around me, and while I often fail, or fall flat, or get flustered, I'm trying, and I want to commit to try and try and try again. "This is not normal," is my mantra when I read the headlines and the hate crimes. There's a poet (I always kick myself for not remembering their name) who has spoken about America's amnesia about its own history that delivered it to its present. We can't afford that amnesia any longer. I keep reminding myself that this is a long fight, that many, many people have been fighting already.
In the meantime: bake this galette. Feed your loved ones. Have a hard conversation. Take care of yourself, then seek discomfort, then care for yourself again.
Onward.
xoxo,
c
Butternut Squash & Caramelized Onion Galette
from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman
This is a giant galette, so if you're hoping to make something smaller, the half-sized recipe is on her website.
For the pastry:
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tp. salt
16 TB cold butter (2 sticks)
1/2 c. full fat sour cream (I use ricotta if I don't have sour cream)
1 TB. white wine vinegar (I usually skip this part)
1/3 c. ice water
For the filling:
2 small or 1 large butternut squash (about 2 1/2 lbs.)
3 TB olive oil
1 1/2 tp. salt
black pepper
1 TB. butter
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced in half moons
1/4 tp. sugar
1/4 tp. cayenne pepper (optional) (use this very sparingly! I've ruined whole galettes by overdoing it)
2 c. grated fontina cheese (I've also used a mix of Italian cheeses instead)
1 tp. chopped fresh thyme or 2 tp. chopped fresh sage (I've skipped these if I don't have them)
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tp. water, for glaze (optional, but it's the difference between a golden galette and a pasty galette)
Make the pastry: Combine flour and slat in a bowl. Add the cold butter, cubed, and break up in the flour mixture with a pastry cutter. I've also made this dough in my stand mixer, which purists would balk at, but it's a wet enough dough that the mixer can handle it. In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream, vinegar and water and add to butter flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula until a dough forms, kneading it once or twice on the counter to bring it together, if needed. Pat dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.
Prepare squash: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel, halve and scoop seeds out of the squash, then cut into small chunks. Toss with 2 TB olive oil (or less), salt and pepper then spread on a baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes. You can shake the pan halfway through so they brown evenly, but I usually forget this step and it turns out just fine. When done roasting, take them out to cool but leave the oven on!
Caramelize onions: While the squash is roasting, melt the butter with 1 TB. olive oil (or less) in a heavy skillet and cook the onions over medium low heat. Add the sugar and the salt, stirring occassionally, until soft and tender, about 25 minutes. Add the cayenne pepper if you're using it.
Once the squash has cooled, stir in a large bowl with caramelized onions, cheese and herbs.
Assemble the galette: On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a 16 or 17 inch round. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. (Don't forget this part! I've absent mindedly assembled galettes on my counter top and then it is nearly impossible to shove them onto the baking sheet.) It's okay if the edges go over the baking sheet, because you're going to fold this all up. Spread the cheese and squash mixture in the center of the dough, leaving a 2 inch border. Fold the border over the squash mixture, pinching together any holes or seams. The center will be open. Brush the outside of the crust with the egg yolk wash, if using.
Bake until golden brown, 30 - 40 minutes, at 400 degrees. Remove the galette from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide onto a serving plate. Can be served hot, warm, or at room temp.
P.S.
* If you haven't yet seen the documentary 13th on Netflix, I highly recommend it. It connects American history in a way I hadn't been taught before.
* I started reading Strangers in Their Own Land after the election, and it's really good. She writes about the empathy walls that America has drawn up between each other.
* Best dog gif ever