SRC: FoodBabbles in My Kitchen

Whoop Whoop....it's Secret Recipe Club time again and I'm very excited. In the Secret Recipe Club bloggers are assigned a "Secret Blog". Once you receive your "blog" you spend time perusing their site (unbeknownst to them) and choose a recipe, or two, or three to make. You then write a mouth watering post and on "reveal day" your post goes live and everyone finds out who had who. It is so fun. My favorite thing is to look at all the thumbnails and try and figure out which one is mine. It's not always that easy. There are 4 groups (A-D), and each group posts one week out of the month. My group (D) posts on the last Monday of the month. It's been fun to be a part of this amazing group. 

 This month I was assigned the blog Food Babbles. Kate has a great blog and I thoroughly enjoyed going through it and finding so many yummy recipes. She has 3 beautiful daughters and a hubby who totally supports her endeavor as a blogger. She loves cooking, writing and photography....Read her "about me" page for more.


I had several recipes bookmarked and this month actually chose to make 2 of them. One dinner recipe and one dessert. They were both successes. 

The first recipe was her Spicy Sesame Udon Noodles with chicken. These were a success because

 #1 My hubby really liked them

 and 

#2 I didn't turn the noodles to mush. 

Here is the recipe (I put some notes in parentheses):

1/3 c. rice vinegar

4 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger (my ginger went bad so had to use powdered)

3 tsp Asian garlic-chili sauce

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cut into bite-size pieces

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

12 oz udon noodles or rice noodles (I used Soba noodles because I couldn't find udon) 

3 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 orange sweet pepper, cut into bite-size strips

1 red sweet pepper, cut into bite-size strips

2 c. snow peas (I didn't have these)

10 oz. canned, sliced water chestnuts

1/2 c. bean sprouts

1 c. peanuts

*In a medium bowl stir together vinegar, honey, soy sauce, ginger and garlic-chili sauce. Set aside.

*Cook the chicken in a large wok until no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper. Add sesame seeds.

*Add the onions, peppers and snow peas. Cook about 3-4 minutes until crisp tender.

*Add the water chestnuts, bean sprouts and peanuts.

*Meanwhile, in a large saucepan cook noodles in boiling water according to package directions. Drain noodles well and return to pan. Drizzle with the sesame oil and toss to coat.

*Add noodles to the wok and add the sauce. Toss well.

The last time I tried to make any type of soba noodle they turned to mush so I was very careful with these. I think I would have liked to have tried a thicker noodle, but hubby loved these. He really liked the flavor a lot. I think I'd make more sauce next time...I'm a saucy kind of girl. This was definitely worth making though and I will probably be making it again.

The other recipe I made was her Very Berry Honey Galette with Lavendar Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream. OH MY GOODNESS! Can you say AMAZING with me? I have never heard of a galette, and had no clue how to pronounce it...this site pronounced it for me...and here is Merriam-Webster's definition:

Galette = a flat, round cake of pastry often topped with fruit.

For the dough:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon table salt

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 6 slices, well chilled

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) vegetable shortening, cut into 2 slices, well chilled 

2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon very cold water

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

**I don't really use shortening and didn't want to buy some for just 2 Tbs. so I used butter.

- Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the butter and shortening pieces are slightly larger than pea size, about 10 to 12 pulses.

- Drizzle the water and lemon juice evenly over the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough begins to form moist crumbs that are just beginning to clump together, about 8 or 9 more pulses depending on your machine.

- Dump the moist crumbs onto a large piece of plastic wrap and gather into a pile. With the heel of you hand, push and gently smear the dough away from you until the crumbs come together. About three ‘smears’ should do the trick. - Shape into a 5-inch disc and wrap tightly in the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours, or up to 2 days.

For the filling:

1/3 cup honey

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

3 cups of mixed berries (I used blackberries, red raspberries, strawberries and blueberries)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

- In a medium bowl, add all the filling ingredients and gently fold together.

For lavender whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon dried lavender buds

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

2 Tablespoons sugar

- For the whipped cream: 

- In a small sauce pan, combine the heavy cream, lavender buds, vanilla bean seeds and scraped pod.

- Bring the cream just to a simmer. Remove from heat and cover. Let steep for 1 hour.

- Strain the cream mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or overnight.

- Just before serving, whip the cream on medium speed until the cream begins to thicken. Sprinkle in sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Serve immediately.

Assembly and Baking Galette:

- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

- Set the wrapped, chilled dough on the counter at room temperature for 10 to 20 minutes until the dough is pliable enough to roll. Arrange a large piece of plastic wrap or parchment on the work surface and put the dough in the center. Cover with another piece of plastic or parchment and press down on the dough to flatten. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough between the plastic or parchment to about 1/8 inch thickness, and a 10″ round,  turning, lifting and repositioning the plastic or parchment and lightly flouring throughout the rolling.

- Transfer the dough disk to the center of a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.

- Mound all the fruit in the center of the dough disk, leaving about a 2-inch border. Fold up the edges around the fruit, pleating and pinching the dough together a bit as you go.

- Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I attempted to make the dough in my Vitamix since I didn't have a food processor...that didn't work out so well...not sure what I did wrong, so I ended up just using my pastry what-cha-ma-callit. I was nervous that I wasn't doing it right...I am not completely confident in my pie crust/pastry making abilities...but I stuck with it and I think it turned out good. At least it rolled out without falling apart.

Okay, in my book this was my FAVORITE of the two..of course I have a sweet tooth. I was fascinated by the thought of using lavender to flavor the whipped cream. Lavender isn't my favorite fragrance so I wavered back and forth as to whether I wanted to use it or not. When it comes to making recipes for the first time I really like to make them exactly as they're written. I was pleasantly surprised at the flavor. 

I made this for my oldest daughter and her friend who was staying the night. I didn't tell them what was in the whipped cream but made them guess. They really, really liked it. They also named the Galette a N.I.P.P. (not in a pie pan). Hubby saw a picture on FB and was sad that he didn't get any. I gave some to my MIL to take home. They liked it too. 

I love Food Babbles...I love her pics, her detailed recipes (I need details, people). I think you will too, so please head over and show her some love....and find a few recipes to make.

With Joy UNquenchable,