Last weekend I was at home alone. Mr SmartCookieSam was out at a motor racing event, my eldest is at uni and my youngest was at work. When I’m at home on my own usually I can’t be bothered to cook for myself. But I thought I’d better make the effort in case Mr SmartCookieSam was hungry when he got in from his day out.

I’d planned to try out the Italian Galette recipe from Mary Berry’s new book Quick Cooking but hadn’t got round to it. The book had arrived just after I had had my foot procedure and I went though the book planning out what I’d love to cook.

The recipe is according to the introduction notes: “A quick and easy way to make a savoury tart. Using shop bought pastry is a joy…” I can definitely go along with that. I can’t be doing with faffing about making puff pastry. I find it too fiddly and complicated. Short crust pastry, well that’s another matter!

First job was to preheat the oven and line one of my baking trays ready to put the galette on. I chose to keep the pre-rolled oblong shape instead of re-rolling and turning it into a circular shape.

The puff pastry cracked as I got it out of the packet but I didn’t worry too much. It would be covered up with the filling.

I scored the edges with a knife so I had a border to brush beaten egg on. Inside this border I then spooned sundried tomato paste. I totally forgot to buy some goats cheese to go on the galette so I had to use up some remaining grated cheese instead.

The next ingredient to go on top of the galette were some cherry tomatoes. I chose some vine ripened ones. I also added some pitted green olives. This was then ready to go into the oven for about 15 minutes at 200oC in my fan oven. After this, I then scrunched up some slices of Parma ham, returning the galette back to the oven for another 5-10 minutes.

Mr SmartCookieSam had had a large lunch so didn’t want much for dinner when he got in. We did end up eating the galette a little like a pizza in slices which wasn’t the most healthy way to eat it! But it tasted absolutely delicious, so much like summer on a plate.

Have a good night.

Love Sam xx