Vegetable Noodles

Another fabulous Food52 find; these noodles made out of vegetables. After making those zucchini ravioli, I'm no stranger to turning vegetables into noodles, but it was super cool to give it a go with other vegetables.
We used this as a side dish to some sandwiches, and it was actually pretty heavy on its own at this portion size, so it could just as easily qualify as a meal.
The flavours at work here are so harmonious it's practically sinful. Fresh sage and lemon, a hint of sweetness from maple syrup. A quick punch of spice from freshly ground black pepper to garnish. Absolutely lovely. Some day, I'm going to get a better photograph of this, because this one does not do it justice. It's so beautiful. I blame my kitchen lighting.

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato, washed and peeled
2 carrots, washed and peeled
2 parsnips, washed and peeled
1 zucchini, washed
for the glaze
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup sage
3/4 tbsp butter
1 1/4 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Using a vegetable peeler, slice thin ribbons from each vegetable, peeling from top to bottom and turning slightly after each strip is removed, until the core is reached or until it is too small to peel anymore.
In a large saucepan, melt butter and cook sage for 1 minute.
Add vegetables (except zucchini) and toss with tongs, cooking until they begin to wilt.
At this time, add zucchini. Add lemon juice, salt, and maple syrup, as well as a quick grind of pepper. Add about 3/4 cup water.
Cook over medium heat, turning occasionally with tongs, until the liquid boils away and the vegetables are glazed and tender. Serve immediately.

Notes:
1 portion of vegetable produces a LOT of noodles, so keep that in mind when you're scaling up. Rich and I made a little more than what's listed here, and ended up with two more servings. I tried to write a scaled down version so that it serves two people a little more easily.
I added the zucchini last because it is a softer vegetable than the root veggies, and I didn't want it to turn into mush. The timing I have written will give you the vegetable sufficiently cooked whilst remaining intact. If you only want root vegetables, you can exclude the zucchini.

Grilled Hot Sausage and Vegetables Somen Noodle Bowl

For a while, noodle bowls were my thing. Asian noodles (soba, somen, udon) are easy and pretty cheap to get at my local asian grocery, so when I first moved here, I made quite a few of these. I started making them when I was still living at my dad's, though, when I started getting sick of eating the same things all the time.
Anyway, I haven't made a noodle bowl in a long time, although Rich and I talk about them often. It was actually the first meal I made in my new apartment, and since he helped me move, he got to have some. It was the three of us -- Rich, our friend Kevin, and myself -- sitting on the floor of my new place, with nothing unpacked, no furniture in the whole place, eating an imitation crab noodle bowl with mushrooms and broccoli, and probably carrots. I don't think I had a broth that time, though. Anyway, the noodle bowl has some fond memories for me.
The nice thing about noodle bowls is that they are pretty easy, and super versatile. All veggies, tofu, beef, chicken, pork. Wanna add an egg in there? Go for it. Seafood is always a winner with these. Try every combination you can think of.
For the broth for this noodle bowl, I used the teriyaki "broth" from my sirloin and veggie bowl a while back. It worked really well with the hot sausage, and the somen noodles carried it pretty nicely.

Ingredients:
2 hot sausages, casings on
3 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
1 package mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin
1 green onion, chopped
2 bunches somen noodles
Teriyaki broth

Directions:
Grill hot sausage until cooked through and the outside is charred slightly.
Meanwhile, combine ingredients for teriyaki broth in a large pot and bring to a boil.
Add carrots, bring pot down to a simmer, and cook until tender. Add mushrooms and cook for another one to two minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove carrots and mushrooms and place in bowls.
Add somen to broth and cook until done. Use tongs to place noodles in bowl, and pour broth into each.
Slice sausage thin, add to bowls along with green onions.

Notes:
A dish like this can easily be made spicy. Add chili powder or white pepper to adjust the spice level.
Instead of making the teriyaki broth, you can just as easily use 2 cups of vegetable broth, spiced to your preference.
1 bunch of somen noodles is a lot for one person, and not everyone may be ready for that kind of commitment. If you're worried it might be too much, try using a half bunch per person.

Peach Galette

What says summer quite like a pastry made with stone fruit? Very few things.
I never even heard about galettes until this summer, when all of a sudden, every recipe site I peek around is talking about them. And man, do they all look delicious.
I made this a while back, when peaches were on sale for a dollar per pound, which is good because this thing requires like, four peaches. It's totally worth it. I loved this thing, and I want to make it every year when stone fruit comes to season.
I got the pastry recipe from Jessica at How Sweet It Is which, as I have already mentioned, is an awesome food blogger and I love pretty much everything she makes. She fills her galette with ginger seasoned peaches, but I took a different approach, instead using brown sugar, maple syrup, and some cinnamon and nutmeg. The sugars bring out the sweetness of the peaches, the syrup adds depth, and the spices take it all up a notch. I could have just eaten those peach slices without the pastry. Oh, wait.

I totally did, because there were some leftover peaches. Mmmm.

I probably could have gotten away with just using three peaches, but then I wouldn't have had this delicious bowl to snack on whilst the galette baked.

Galette pastry
Ingredients: Note: This will make enough pastry for two galettes
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 cup ice cold water
1 1/2 cups cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (3 sticks or 24 tablespoons)
1/3 cup sliced almonds + extra sugar for sprinkling
for brushing: 1 egg + a few drops of water, beaten together

Directions
Add the flour, sugar and salt to a bowl and whisk. In a small bowl, whisk mix together the egg, vinegar and water. Add the cold butter pieces into the bowl and mix with a hand mixer until small coarse crumbs remain. Sprinkle the water/egg mixture over the flour and mix again until the dough comes together. If needed, use your hands to kneed the dough into a single unit.
Remove the dough with your hands and wrap it in plastic wrap. This dough makes enough for 2 galette crusts, so you can either separate it into 2 sections now, or separate it after it's refrigerated. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Filling
Ingredients:
4 peaches, sliced thin
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
In a large bowl, place all peach slices.
In a small bowl, mix syrup, sugar, and spices and whisk until sugar is melted.
Add syrup mixture to the peaches and toss to coat.

Assembling the Galette
Take out one of the dough packets from the fridge, place on a sheet of parchment paper, and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Don't worry about making a perfect circle -- you want the edges to be rough to make it "rustic-looking."
Starting about two inches from the edge, begin placing the peach slices so that it creates a round. Make multiple layers, leaving about an inch from the previous layer, and repeat until either all the peach slices are used or no more can be placed.
Fold over the edges of the galette, making sure the seams stay together so it doesn't unfold.
Brush eggwash over folded crust. Press almonds into crust, and sprinkle lightly with sugar.
Transfer galette (with the parchment paper) onto an overturned cookie sheet.
Bake for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden.
Once cooled, cut into slices and serve with ice cream or homemade whipped cream.