When Whole Foods Yorkville in Toronto offered me the chance to participate in the “Blogger Gobbler” challenge around Canadian Thanksgiving, I was intrigued. A challenge involving creating a holiday recipe with two secret ingredients – sweet potatoes & 365 Balsamic Vinegar. A challenge to say the very least. We had free range with what type of dish we could make from appetizers to dessert (!) and I thought long and hard about this and finally decided on a hearty main dish to make for our vegetarian guests over Thanksgiving.
So often a vegetarian’s lot during holiday meals ends up being a cobbled-together plate of side dishes and I wanted to make something special for our non-meat eating guests that everyone would be able to enjoy. Sweet potatoes with goat cheese was my first thought so I immediately imagined a free-form galette. But where to fit in the balsamic vinegar??? Recently, somewhere I tasted an onion jam made with balsamic caramelized onions (I can’t for the life of me remember where) and realised that it might work in this dish, at least with the goat cheese component. Wasn’t sure if it would be too rich with the sweet potatoes though…
I was extremely pleased with how this came out – the onions offer a subtle sweetness to counter the tangy goat cheese and the sweet potatoes give the dish some bulk without weighing it down – it’s a wonderful main dish for both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike (and was enjoyed by both at our Thanksgiving table).
A vegetarian main dish that’s perfect for Thanksgiving – no more sad plates full of veggie “side dishes” for your vegetarian guests’ main courses! As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.Sweet potato galette with balsamic-caramelized onions and goat cheese
Ingredients
For the pastry
For the filling
Instructions
Make the pastry:
Make the filling
To assemble:
Recommended Products
Who knew – sweet potatoes and balsamic vinegar – a match made in heaven!
I took smaller versions of this to the “taste off” event where the bloggers’ dishes were tasted and judged by a panel including Good Food Revolution’s Malcolm Jolley on taste, creativity and presentation. I don’t have a pic of the mini ones to share but dare I say, they were pretty darned cute 😉
And guess what? My dish was chosen as one of the Top 3!
Updated August 2020: This meant that the Whole Foods kitchens prepared my recipe along with the other two finalists’ to share with Whole Foods shoppers at the Final Taste Off Event on November 28 2012 at Whole Foods Yorkville’s in-store café. The first 100 customers voted for their favourite dish (and I won!)
This is still a staple in the Michels-Phillips household and a firm favourite amongst our vegetarian guests!
_________
Please note: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This means that if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!
_________
Buy my books! In the French kitchen with kids and French Food for Everyone: le goûter are out now! Click here for details and how to order!
Like this post? Get blog posts delivered to your inbox! Sign up here!
this looks soooooo good!
And your photography… beautiful as usual! 🙂
Merci!
Congratulations Mardi! Your galette is rustic and beautiful. Best wishes on November 28th!
Thanks Paula – I won!
Congratulations! It looks delicious…I’m going to make it this week!
🙂 Enjoy!
Oh My Goodness – this look fantastic! And thank you so much for giving me such a fantastic vegetarian main to use for the holiday season. Due to lack of inspiration I always find myself making a onion and goats cheese tart for my vegitarian friends…but how old fashioned and boring is that?! Thanks for sharing!
Well just add sweet potatoes next time!
WOW. No vegetarians at our Thanksgiving dinners, but hello…. I’d make this any old night!! All of my favorites + I LOVE the addition of balsamic!! I bet the whole wheat crust adds a nice, nutty flavor.
Yes it’s a perfect weeknight dinner!
I got hungry just reading this. Normally, I just shrug off any vegetarian dish (20 mins after eating you’re hungry again – sorry vegetarians) but I doubt that this dish would leave you wanting more. Excellent dish.
No you would love this one, trust me!
Mardi, this sounds great. I am searching for some new ideas for appetizers – going to add this to the list!
This is perfect in mini size!
Me and a couple others have plans to make this next week. Really looking forward to getting stuck in. And maybe a clafoutis for dessert?
Oh perfect!
This look amazing! I’m trying it tonight! I love caramelized onions!!!
I hope you enjoyed.
Congrats on making the Top 3! Not that I’ve seen the competition, but it totally looks like a contender for the top spot to me… love the pairing of caramelized onion, sweet potato and goat cheese. (And, seeing as I’m not a vegetarian, I’m thinking a little finely chopped bacon would be a rather nice addition to this combination. 🙂 )
Oh yes. Bacon. Mmmm.
Ooh, another GORGEOUS galette! Love the flavor profiles here (as they say on Top Chef 🙂 So excited about the taste-off! You’ll fill us in on the details, n’est-ce pas?
Yup – I won!
That looks fabulous, love the addition of goat cheese! I think that the meat is the least important part of holiday meals.. all about the sides!
This one is a bunch of delicious sides in a galette!
I am going to try sweet potato balsalmic-caramelized onion & goat cheese galette for my brother on thanksgiving, but you do not have the amount of goat cheese required?
Whoah – not sure how that happened – I swear it was there when I input the recipe. I have made the chance but it’s approximately 200g plain goat cheese (in a log) cut into 8-10 thin rounds. Cheers!
Thank you, my brother will love it!
I hope so!
Ooooh! That looks delicious! Wish I saw this before I planned & purchased the ingredients for my Thanksgiving meal. I will definitely keep this on file for next year!
Cheers & Happy Thanksgiving!
Kristina
It’s a keeper for sure!
made this on new year’s day and it is FANTASTIC! i sliced my sweet potato into thin discs instead of chunks, but that was the only thing i changed. love the sweet balsamic onions!
So glad to know!
I made this today for Easter brunch and it was fabulous! It took me a lot longer to reduce the balsamic vinegar but otherwise it was pretty easy. Thanks so much for sharing your delicious recipe!
I made this galette yesterday and have to say, it was DELICIOUS. In fact I’m having it cold for “second breakfast” right now.
Now I had reservations about 6 Tbs of balsamic vinegar, and when I tasted the onions in the pan, ouch – coughing fit. But I forged ahead, and on the tart itself, with the other ingredients, O MY GOODNESS it was just perfect! So don’t skimp on that. It’s overall a bit sweet, so next time I might cut the brown sugar a bit. And I only had a half the chevre, but it was plenty, crumbled up instead of cut into rounds. The crust was sooooo good, too! I already make a mean all-butter crust for my fruit pies, but from now on I will add some cornmeal. The little bit of tender crunchiness adds a welcome textural contrast.
Thank you, Mardi! Really glad to have come across this recipe, and your blog!
Thanks for your comment – so glad you enjoyed! Yes, it’s an unusual combination but it really does work!