Amaranth Greens & Purple Potato Galette

As I drove home contemplating my CSA bounty and drinking in the fresh garlic, onion, tomato, and basil perfumes, I realized I had almost completely forgotten how to make anything without greens. Since this week’s share also featured a beautiful bunch of amaranth greens, I decided a savory tart was on the menu for lunch.

First of all, I decided to make a galette rather than a tart. A galette is just a free-form tart, which means you flop the sides of the crust over instead of neatly crimping. It also means you can roll it out in any shape you want and bake it on whatever’s at hand (cookie sheet, pie plate, etc.). This is really a bonus when making your own crust, especially for disorganized-bakery-cupboard types like me. Luckily for you, this is a lazy summer recipe which features a store-bought crust from Immaculate Bakery (they were on sale). This took me about 10 minutes to throw together and another 23 minutes to bake. Fast and easy!

Amaranth greens have a wonderful flavor. They have no bitter undertones and can be thrown in just about anything. The only challenge is that they can be a bit fibrous. I generally like to chop them up quite a bit. Here, I de-leafed the whole bunch and ended up with about 1 1/2 cups of chopped amaranth greens. I put the stems back in the fridge to throw into something else later. To the greens I added 2 cloves of minced garlic, about 1/2 cup crumbled Chiva Risa goat feta cheese, 4 eggs, and some fresh ground pepper. I gently mixed this together with a rubber spatula. Next, I spread it into the open pie crust. Your mixture should be quite thick. I then quartered and sliced 3 small purple potatoes and tossed them on top. Finally, I flopped over the crust edges, salted and drizzled with olive oil. I don’t think it’s necessary to point out the incredible joy of having freshly dug purple potatoes. This particular batch hails from Sleeping Frog Farms.

I baked it on the bottom rack at 375º (I recommend 400º if you’re using a metal pan) for about 23 minutes or until golden brown and the potatoes are tender. I tossed 3 small diced tomatoes over the top after removing from the oven.

I served with a little additional cracked black pepper and sliced salted cucumbers drizzled with a bit of lime. Everybody had seconds! I hope you enjoy yours as much as we did.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch amaranth greens (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
• 4 eggs
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat feta or grated Romano cheese
• Black pepper (to taste)
• 2 medium or 3 small quartered purple potatoes
• 1 large or 3 small tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400º
2. Remove pie crust from fridge to relax, or make from scratch
3. Combine greens, garlic, eggs, cheese, and black pepper into a thick mixture
4. Open up pie crust and spread mixture evenly inside
5. Top with potatoes
6. Enclose pie crust over mixture
7. Salt and drizzle with oil
8. Bake until golden brown and potatoes are tender. Roughly 20 minutes.
9. Top with tomatoes