Clear-out-the-pantry Coconut Curry Soup

A while back I made this soup to use up a variety of things in the fridge before going bad... SO yummy!

First, I sauteed 4 green onions, chopped, in olive oil in a pot. I added 1/4 a white onion, diced that was in hte fridge too. Minced a little leftover fresh ginger, and added about 1 can worth of cocnut milk - combining the two open cans in hte fridge (one regular and one light) plus 1 cup of stock. I added a splash of fish sauce. I soaked and chopped some dried lemongrass. I added 2 tsp of red curry powder and about 1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce, and a splace of rice vinegar... and let the whole thing simmer for a bit.

In a separate pot, I cooked about 1/2 cup of jasmine rice according to pkg directions.

Then add 1 pound of shrimp - thawed, peeled, deveined - to the soup and simmer until shrimp is done through. Sreve with a scoop of rice and topped with chopped cilantro.

This was so good! Nice kick from the curry but the coconut helped cool it a bit.

Asian Shrimp Stew with Steamed Rice

OK first things first. Star this post, print it, commit it to memory, whatever. It is FABULOUS. Make it like tomorrow. Love. IT.

This is from Everyday Food Magazine. My sister also subscribes and she made this a while ago and has been bugging me about how good it was, so finally I made it too. Wow. I should listen to her more often (Moira - just testing to see if you are reading this ;) )

Serves 4

Prep Time: 30 Min

Total Time: 30 Min

Avoid overcooking vegetables.

1 Cup long-grain white rice

2 T cornstarch

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 T sugar

1 T vegetable oil

2 yellow bell peppers, in one inch pieces

1 onion, cut in one inch pieces (I used red since I was out of yellow)

4 garlic cloves, sliced

2 T minced peeled fresh ginger from a 2 inch piece

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (I misread and used 1/2 tsp - it was definitely spicy, especially for this spice-averse girl, but I could eat it and it was still really good. So if you like a kick, go with 1/2 tsp)

4 scallions, thinly sliced (separate whites and greens - I skipped since I didnt realize teh white were to be cooked)

salt

1 pound shrimp (raw, peeled, thawed, deveined, tails removed)

1-2 tsp rice vinegar

Directions

1) Cook rice according to pkg, set aside covered. Meanwhile, place cornstarch in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in coconut milk, sugar, and 1 cup water. Set aside.

2) In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add peppers, onion, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and scallion whites. Season with salt. Cook, tossing frequently, until vegetables are crisp tender, 6-8 min.

3) add coconut milk mixture to skillet. Raise heat to med high. Boil, stirring occassionally, until thickened, 1-2 min. Add shrimp, and cook just until opaque, 3-4 min. If necessary, adjust consistency with a little water. Season with vinegar and salt to taste.

4) Fluff rice with fork. Serve shrimp stew over rice, garnish with scallion greens.

SO. FAB.

Coconut Risotto with Shrimp and Green Sauce

I saw this on another blog and knew I needed to make it that very night. And my instincts were good - it was SO YUMMY! I loved it. Shrimp + coconut + lime + cilantro + avocado? Seriously... cant go wrong. Those are all some of my most favorite flavors.

The rice was nice and creamy and the sauce had a nice bite from the lime. Definitely making this one again! My changes (very few) in italics!

Butterflied Shrimp on Coconut Risotto with Avocado, Lime and Cilantro Cream

For 4 Servings:

Risotto:

1 cup arborio rice

1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk

2 - 3 cups chicken stock

1 Tablespoon sliced green onion

1 Tablespoon neutral oil

1/4 cup shredded coconut - toasted (I forgot that this went in the risotto and only topped it with a sprinkle... I didnt bother toasting it either out of time constraints but next time I would)

Shrimp:

12 large shrimp - tails on and butterflied (sliced down the back nearly all the way through) (I used more since this was our main entree - 1 pound for 2 ppl)

1 Tablespoon neutral oil

Cream:

1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves

1/2 small avocado

1 Tablespoon lime juice (I used a bit more than this... wanted a bit more of a zip)

1/4 cup sour cream

Make the risotto:

Saute green onion in 1 T oil briefly. Add rice and toast lightly. Mix coconut milk and chicken stock.

Add stock mixture to rice one cup at a time - letting rice absorb stock before adding another cup.

Add the toasted coconut after the second cup of stock. Stir nearly constantly. (omitted - forgot!) When you get to the 20 minute mark, check the rice for consistency.

Once the rice is al dente and creamy, you're done. You may or may not use all of the stock.

Keep warm.

Make the cream:

Combine cilantro, avocado, lime and sour cream in a blender. Puree until very smooth.

Make the shrimp:

Pan-fry the shrimp - cut side down - until lightly browned. This will take about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water to the pan so the shrimp will finish cooking and curl slightly. This will take just another 2 minutes or so.

Serve the risotto topped with shrimp. Place a dollop of cream on each shrimp and garnish with a sprinkling of toasted coconut and a cilantro leaf.

"Rice" pudding

Part deux of my Platinum Chef entry, I decided to go with a dessert. I used a recipe from Epicurious as my base. I had planned to make this with butternut as well but ran out of time and energy so I just used canned pumpkin instead. I also skipped carmelizing (no blowtorch :( ) I subbed barley for the rice - tricky tricky!!

From the site:

Caramelizing the top of this pudding adds an extra depth of flavor, but it's equally delicious without doing it.
A blowtorch works best here; the broiler didn't give us the uniform browning we wanted.

Active time: 1 3/4 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Servings: Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Ingredients

1 (1 1/2- to 2-lb) piece pumpkin or butternut squash, halved and seeded (omitted)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (omitted)

2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

2/3 cup long-grain white rice (changed to PEARL BARLEY)

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 cups whole milk

8 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (2 oz) (omitted)

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar such as Sugar in the Raw (optional) (omitted)

Added: 1 vanilla bean

1 can pumpkin (1 1/3 cups used)

Special equipment: a blowtorch (optional)

Preparation

Bake pumpkin: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
Arrange each piece of pumpkin, cut side up, on a sheet of foil. Top each with 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar. Wrap separately in foil and bake, cut sides up, in a shallow baking pan until flesh is tender, about 1 hour.
Open foil and cool pumpkin slightly, then scoop flesh into a food processor and purée until smooth. (This was all skipped and canned pumpkin was used instead)

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

Cook rice (barley) while pumpkin bakes: Heat rice, salt, 4 cups milk, and remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until very hot. Transfer to a large metal bowl set over a large saucepan of simmering water (or to a double boiler) and cook over low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and most of milk is absorbed, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (Add more simmering water to saucepan if necessary.) Remove pan from heat and keep rice warm, covered.

Make pudding: Lightly whisk yolks in a large bowl, then whisk in vanilla, ginger, 1 1/3 cups pumpkin purée (reserve remainder for another use), and remaining cup milk. Gradually stir in warm rice, then pour mixture into a buttered 2-quart flameproof shallow baking dish (not glass). Set baking dish in a roasting pan and bake pudding in a hot water bath, uncovered, in oven until set, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

If caramelizing pudding, sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar, then move blowtorch flame evenly back and forth over sugar until sugar is melted and caramelized. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Cooks' notes:• Pumpkin can be baked and puréed 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered. • Pudding can be baked (but not caramelized) 1 day ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before caramelizing or serving.

That was all from the website linked. I added the vanilla bean (seeds and pods) to the milk and barley as it was cooking (remove the pods before cooking of course!) I still used vanilla in the custard because I really wanted vanilla to be a star in this. The barley worked great as a substitute for the rice - healthied it up a bit (though really all the whole milk and sugar... not much that can be done!). I dont think ryan would have known except I told him about the challenge and ingredients prior.

It turned out great - lucky since there is a TON leftover!

Brown Rice and Shrimp Bowl

Another Everyday Food Mag recipe, this was yummy and a nice take on 'take out at home.'

Serves 4

Salt and pepper

1 cup long grain brown rice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (1-2 lemons)

2 T rice vinegar

2 tsp brown sugar

1 T olive oil

1 pound peeled, deveined, thawed shrimp

1/2 pound snow peas trimmed and halved on the diagonal

1 piece (1 inch long) fresh ginger peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 avocado pitted and cut into chunks

1) In a large pot bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil. Add rice, cover, reduce heat to low and cook until rice is tender and water is mostly absorbed, 45-50 min.

2) In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

3) When rice is almost/totally done, heat oil in a large skillet over med high. Add shrimo, snow peas, and ginger, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until shrimp are opaque throughout and snow peas are bright green. 2-3 min

4) divide rice among bowls. Top with shrimp mixture and avocado. Serve Sauce on the side.

Loved the sauce on the side - I liked mine very lightly sauced and Ryan was more heavy handed. This let us make our dish the way we wanted. Yum!

Lighter Sesame Chicken

This recipe is from Everyday Food (my fav cooking mag hands down) and is basically a lighter and healthier take on the chinese dish Chicken and Brocolli. And I think it is yummier than the stuff from chinese places personally! VERY good!

Serves 4

3/4 cup brown rice
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower (I used canola)
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into large florets, stems peeled and thinly sliced (I skipped the stems and used more of the heads)

Directions

Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, and fill with 1 inch water; set aside for broccoli. Cook rice according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, make sauce: In a small bowl, combine honey, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and garlic; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites and cornstarch. Add chicken; season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and chicken. Return all the chicken to skillet; add reserved sauce and scallions, and toss to coat.

Meanwhile, place saucepan with steamer basket over high heat; bring water to a boil. Add broccoli, and cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve sesame chicken with broccoli and rice.

Taste of the Tropics Shrimp

I found this recipe on the Paved with Good Intentions Blog and thought it looked yummy - I love fruit with seafood! It was very yummy!! The only thing I would change it I would use much less onion in the marinade- it was very strong. The Mango tempered it though :)

Broiled Shrimp

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup parsley

1/4 cup basil

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp creole mustard (couldnt find this so I used southwestern instead)

1 tsp dried mustard

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

24 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

1) Combine all ingredients in ziplock bag, refrigerate one hour.2) Heat broiler. Broil shrimp 4 minutes, turning over half way through.

Mango Salsa

1 Tbsp canola oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 jalepeno seeded and chopped

1 tsp crushed ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

1 ripe mango, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/6 cup fresh orange juice

1 tsp light brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

1) Combine all ingredients but salt and pepper.2) Place in fridge for 30 minutes to let the salsa do the flavor tango.3) Season with salt and pepper

I served it with jasmine rice, and cooked the remaining marinade in a saucepan until slightly reduced and the onions were softened (and the raw seafood was cooked!) and mixed that with the rice, it was great!

Sweet Brown Butternut Rice

I was always scared of rice because I hated it growing up but I have recently learned more about it (thanks Alton Brown!) and have become a big fan of rice with stuff in it. Still don't much like it plain or the boring white/brown varieties. But different kinda of rice are fun! I went to WHole Foods a while back and they can be very expensive for some things. They had cereal-type dispensers set up wiht about 20 different kids of rice, and unique ones. I bought a bunch of different kinds (nice, at the grocery store you have to buy 5 pounds at a time - ugh!). One was "sweet brown rice" a short brown rice. I decided to try it out on a whim. SO good. YUM. I loved it!

1 cup sweet brown rice

1 T EVOO

Add both to medium pot over medium high and stir often to toast teh rice a bit. Add:

1 onion, diced

1 (small) or 1/2 a butternut squash, in bite sized pieces (I buy the pre-peeled kind since my upper body strength is lacking, and it is needed to get the hard rind off)

cook another couple minutes, stirring, until onion is softened.

Add about 2 cups of stock. Let simmer, stirring frequently. I think I added another 1/2-3/4 cup of stock - as needed (taste the rice when the stock is soaked up to see if it is soft enough or not).

Towards the end but before totally done, add 1 medium tomato, chopped and about 1 cup of frozen corn. Add a pinch of salt, a few tsp of cinnamon and ginger, a dash of nutmeg, and a tsp of white pepper (more mellow and suble than black I think).

SO good! Nice and creamy texture and a sweetness from the rice, squash and spices.

Late Summer Veggie Plethora with Rice

We had company for dinner last weekend and I was at a loss for what to make (my sister was supposed to come and her allergies can make things complicated). I went to Rosedales and wow was there alot of great stuff! I decided to get a bunch of veggies and make them with brown and wild rice into a one-dish meal. The prep was time consuming but it was easy to do ahead, and put in bowls.

1 small butternut squash, seeded, peeled, chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 Portobello Mushrooms, chopped

1 pint grape tomatos, halved

1 red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 yellow bell pepper, in 1 inch pieces

a good handful of green beans chopped into thirds

3 ears of corn, kernels sliced off

1 cup long grain rice

1/2 cup wild rice

about 2 cups of stock

Ground ginger (about 1-2 T)

kosher salt

white pepper

Cumin Seeds

Saffron threads

splash of cream

1 T EVOO

2 Pounds shrimp thawed, deveined, shelled (I used cooked because it is what I had on hand but I prefer to use uncooked shrimp since it is easier to control it - to cook through without overcooking I think)

In a large stock pot, heat EVOO with onion, garlic, Cumin Seeds until onion and garlic are soft. Add rice, squash, pepper, beans and stir to toast, about 2-3 minutes. Add stock, ginger, salt and pepper, saffron thread, and remaining veggies (reserve 1/2 tomatos). Simmer until most of liquid is absorbed and rice is almost done through. Add Shrimp and remaining tomatos and heat through. Finish with a splash of cream and serve.

This was really good, hearty and healthy!

Cara's Coconut Pumpkin Rice

I saw this on Cara's blog and thought it looked really good and different. I was really excited to cook with an actual pumpkin for the first time ever! It was great too! I think I put too much lime in though, it kinda overpowered the other flavors but Ryan really liked it as did I, next time I would use less lime though. I definitely need to get this cookbook - all pumpkin, year round! It IS a super-food after all :)

Creamy Shrimp and Rice, from DeeDee Stovel's Pumpkin

1 tbsp canola oil

1/2 cup finely chopped shallots

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp peeled and minced fresh ginger

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 cup brown basmati rice

1 pound fresh pumpkin, seeds and fibers removed, cut into chunks

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/2" chunks

1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2" chunks *I only had red so I juse did 1.5 red peppers

1-2 jalapeno chiles or 1 hot red dried Chinese chile, seeded and minced

2 cups chicken broth1 can (14oz) coconut milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp saffron threads

1 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro

Heat oil over medium eat in a pot. Cook shallots for 2 minutes, or until they begin to wilt. Add garlic, ginger, and cumin. Stir. Add the rice and continue cooking and stirring for several minutes.Place the pumpkin chunks i a covered microwave-safe dish with 1 tbsp water and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, peel and cut into 1/2" chunks.*Meanwhile, add the peppers and chiles to the shallot mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes before adding the broth, coconut milk, salt and saffron. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, until rice is almost tender.Add the shrimp and lime juice and cook 5 minutes longer or until shrimp are thoroughly cooked. Top each serving with a sprinkle of cilantro.

*The original recipe did not state where to add the pumpkin; I added it during the rice cooking.