Spicy Thai Style Vegetable Coconut Soup

I really do love soup. I don’t think I ever realized how just how much until the cold Northeast chill kicks in, and then the true appreciation of a soothing hot bowl of soup sets in. That’s exactly the moment I pull out my big dutch oven, open the fridge and get chopping.

It’s February, which traditionally is the coldest month. Naturally, it was frigid outside… truth be told, the inside of our house often times is more arctic than outdoors. If you were to ask my brother, he would definitely have a thing or two to say about that having survived a few winters in our home. So, I knew with certainty that soup would be on the menu in our house.

Normally, I can just open the fridge and cupboards and start creating. But, this time around, I didn’t have much with which to work. If I had any chance of a soup creation that would warm me through and through, I would need to venture outside. We have plenty of Asian markets in our town, so it’s easy to get motivated to stir up something in with that ethnic flare. And that was exactly the direction I would take. I grabbed what I thought would swim nicely together in the pot and headed back home.

Because I don’t seem to know how to make small quantities of soup, I made a boatload. Fair warning, unless you are feeding an army, or like to freeze and save for a later date, I recommend cutting this recipe down. JuanCarlos and I enjoyed this soup for a several days, then I froze two quarts for future yumminess.

As with any type of ethnic food that might be out of your wheel house, I think it’s important at first to keep it simple and use ingredients that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. Sure, you could go out and buy a slew of special items but if you don’t use them often they just go to waste. Plus, I don’t pretend to be an authority on Thai cooking. Quite the opposite, it is a complex cuisine that employs a delicate hand at balance of spice, salt, sweet, etc. For me, I just like to coax as much flavor out of the ingredients that I can. By sautéing and adding ingredients in stages to develop each flavor to the fullness how I built an intensity that kept me wanting more of this soup.

Like with many of my soup creations they start out as a basic soup, which are totally delicious as is, but then can then be added to. Recap examples:
Cauliflower Soup : Add grilled shrimp or chicken. Sautéed mushrooms or roasted cauliflower
Carrot Soup : Use as a puree base for fish
Kale, Potato, Lentil, Cauliflower Soup : Add mini meatballs, or grilled sausage
Roasted Tomato Soup : Grilled cheese sandwich, naturally. Or a Spicy Sausage Sandwich. Add chunks of grilled chicken.

You get the point. So goes for this soup. I added calamari, but shrimp would be great. Chicken would also work nicely.

So here goes the ingredients. This made about 10 quarts of soup.

Ingredients

Makes approx. 9-10 Qts.
2 medium onions, sliced (approx. 2.5 c)
4 c carrots, long stripes (loosely packed)
1/3 c ginger, sliced
2 t ginger, grated
4 large garlic cloves, smashed
1 stalk lemongrass, smashed
2 + t salt (taste test, add more if needed at the end)
1/3 c olive oil + 1 T
7 c Chinese cabbage, chopped (or Napa)
5 c Chinese spinach, chopped (or baby spinach)
2 c Enoki mushrooms
1 c Shimeji mushrooms
1/3 c scallions, sliced + 2T for garnish
2 T red curry paste
1/4 c cilantro, minced + 2T for garnish
Mung bean sprouts for garnish
2 qts chicken or vegetable stock
2 qts water
2 13.5 oz cans coconut milk

The way the vegetables are cut makes a difference. For this soup, carrot ribbons work best.

Instructions

Create depth of flavor by using strong aromatics, like lemongrass, garlic, ginger and onions.

Spinach, cabbage provides the vegetable base, and cilantro zings in some herbaceousness.

1. In a large dutch oven, or soup pot, sauté onions, lemongrass, slice ginger, garlic, salt. Let these cook down a bit, then add the red curry paste and stir to combine.

2. Push the cooked aromatics to the sides, add 1 T oil in the middle and add crushed garlic and crushed ginger and scallions and let cook until soft.

Softened aromatics with red curry paste.

Grated garlic and ginger, scallions.

3. Add carrot ribbons and mushrooms, let cook for 10 minutes until softened.

Add carrots and mushrooms and let soften.

4. Add broth and water and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add coconut milk, cabbage, spinach and cilantro and simmer for another 10 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, bring pot of water to boil and add rice noodles. Cook for 7-10 minutes until tender. Drain and reserve.

To serve, add the rice noodles to the bowl and spoon a good helping of the soup and vegetables on top and garnish with sliced scallions and cilantro.

If you want to add calamari or shrimp to this soup, add it 5 minutes after the spinach and cabbage and let cook through. You can also grill the shrimp or chicken separately and place it atop the soup.
This soup has a nice kick to it. If I had put more thought to it I might have also added some sliced chili peppers. But, quite honestly, I felt the spice level on this was just right.

My birthday gift to myself is sharing the love of nurturing yourself with good food and the warmth of a good soup that soothes you like a comfy blanket.. Try your hand at Spicy Thai Style Vegetable Soup. It will warm you through and through, and all over - mind, body and soul. Soup is good food.

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Carrot, Ginger, Coconut Milk Soup

Oh the woes of having to eliminate foods from my diet. The struggle is real. Sometimes we forget that our internal body needs looking after. All too often we abuse and mistreat ourselves as if we could go in for spare parts or replacement pieces, or take a pill and get better. It’s not that simple. There are many reasons why our bodies get out of whack. Certainly environment plays a huge role. Genetics another. And then, of course, there is our own care or mis-care. As individuals, our stories vary greatly. As for me, I will attest to the many, many years I worked crazy, long hours, went entire days without drinking anything else but coffee, ate pasta and pizza as quick fill me ups at all odd hours and got little sleep. Bad, bad, and badder. Those were typical days in my life of television production. It wreaked havoc with whole system.

When you are young, you don’t think much about it. You just go, go, go not realizing the damage that is being done. I don’t want to get all preachy. That’s not what my blog is about, but from time to time I do like sharing tidbits of info that show up in my life and are food related. So this is what’s been happening lately. As you may remember I have been eliminating wheat, yeast and handful of other foods from diet after I developed a reaction when consuming those foods. But then a sinus issue has been bugging me. After seeing several traditional doctors to no avail, I knew it must be all related to one thing. The fact is that most of my issues are related to gut health. Now, I can’t be certain that the past misuse of my body is why my gut health is poor right now but I would venture to bet that it has some serious bearing. I also don’t claim to have the answers. Each of us is different and finds cures and results in various ways. I have gone to different types of doctors, naturopaths, Ayurvedic practitioners with minor successes, but nothing major. In an effort to continue making improvements, I starting seeing a new naturopath. I feel confident that I will fix the issues once and for all. In doing so, he asked me to alter my diet by following the GAPS regime for 8 weeks to eliminate all carbohydrates and grains and any starchy vegetables, legumes. All the stuff I LOVE!!

It’s very restrictive, so after one week of following this regime, I thought I would go stir crazy. That’s right, only one week in and I was miserable. My stomach was gurgling and begging for something soft and warm… Like a big bowl of pasta. But alas, I would not give in. I decided that some sort of creamy type of soup would be my salvation and I needed it ASAP! Which meant I absolutely had no time or patience for shopping. I always have beans in the pantry which would make a great soup, but those, too, were a no no on this regime. Seriously, beans? Thankfully, carrots were in copious amounts in my fridge. Thinking, thinking, thinking, carrots and what? Other items in abundance in my house; ginger and coconut milk which seemed like excellent companions. They were on my list of “yes, thank goodness you can eat those”. Thus Carrot, Ginger Coconut Milk soup would soothe my soul.

Since my tummy was feeling delicate, I made this soup very mild in flavors. But this is one of those soups that can be easily altered to up the flavor ante. Much like my Faux Creamy Cauliflower Soup, you can spice this up, adding toppings or make it as thick or soupy as you desire. These types of soups are an ideal base to build upon, as well as just a great soup. I didn’t want anything too spicy, so I held way back on the ginger, but that is one ingredient that you could add more of to really bring out that spicy note.

(I wanted to give you a guide line for the spicer version, so I made a second smaller batch and increased both the ginger and garlic which definitely gave it a kick. I’ve given you both recipes below. Also, you can add ground ginger to fully round out that flavor, I just didn’t have any on hand.)

Simple stars of the show, or should I say soup.

Ingredients

Mild Version
6-7 c Carrots, rough chop
13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 c celery, chopped
1 c onions, chopped
1 T heaping ginger, grated*
1 t heaping garlic, grated
2 t turmeric
2.5 t salt
1/8 t ground pepper
3 T olive oil
6 c water (veg or chicken or broth)

Spicier Version/Small Batch
3 c carrots, rough chop
7 oz. coconut milk
1/2 c celery, chopped
1/2 c onions, chopped
2 T ginger, grated**
2 t garlic, grated
2 t turmeric
1.5 t salt
1/8 t ground pepper
3 T olive oil
3.5 c water (veg or chicken or broth)

*Note: It’s important to grate the ginger instead of just cutting it into chunks. Ginger is very fibrous and when you blend it those fibers do not fully break down. Grating it gives you a smoother consistency.
** Note: The smaller batch is half the amount of the milder version yet the ginger and garlic are doubled which is actually 4x more than the mild version. Adjust to your level of spiciness.

Instructions

1. Chop up all the veggies in chunks. You can make these large or small, it doesn’t matter since everything will be blended together. However, if you want to soup to be ready quicker, cut smaller chunks so they cook through faster.

Funny, the vegetables in this soup are usually the base for any other soup AKA mirepoix or the trinity. In this case, THEY are the soup.

2. First sauté the onions and celery in olive oil. Then add ginger, turmeric, garlic, salt and pepper and cook over medium low heat until the spices are toasted. But careful not the burn the garlic and ginger since they are grated.

3. Then add the carrots and let cook for 10 minutes.

4. Add water or broth and bring to a boil then let simmer until the veggies are soft enough to blend.

5. Next blend the soup.

• If you are using an emersion blender, first remove about 4-5 cups of the liquid and set aside. By doing this, you can decide on the thickness of the soup. If you prefer it thick and chunky, don’t add any more of the broth back in. If you want it more smooth and soupy, then continue to add the liquid until you reach your desired consistency.

• If you are using a regular blender, use a slotted spoon to remove the veggies and add them to the blender with about 1/2 cup of liquid to start. IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember when using a blender with hot liquid do not completely cover the lid. It is important to let out some of the steam while blending or the top will pop off and burning hot liquid will splatter. Add liquid until you reach the thickness you want.

6. Once you have the desired consistency, add the soup back into the pot, add the coconut milk and let simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Thicker version. More filling.

The more cooking liquid you blend back in not only creates a smoother, more soup like version, but also yields more soup.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a very mild soup which makes it great for kids, too. Because it’s so neutral it can be used in several ways.

• Hold back on the adding the broth to keep it super chunky, then use it as a base purée for seared or poached salmon, or filet of sole. Top with crispy shallots.

• Add all the broth and make it super soupy and use it as a sauce for rice noodles, topping it with fresh scallions, cilantro and chopped peanuts.

• Spoon it over rice, add roasted shrimp and chili peppers.

Black cod with broccoli rabe and the thicker carrot puree.

This is the start of a beautiful carrot crusade. It definitely soothed my achy woes.

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Screaming Shrimp Cooled by Creamy Avocado & Tomato

Shrimp; sure their name might denote that they are small in size, but they are big in versatility.  As Bubba so notably recited, "Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it. There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That, that’s about it.”  Well, that's where I disagree with Bubba. There are a thousand ways to prepare a shrimp.  Which makes them a perfect non meat dish to serve for a dinner party or crowd. Plus most people love shrimp. (Minus those poor souls with that horrible allergic reaction in the form of swelling, non breathing and other awful symptoms. So sorry for that group.)  

Shrimp, in any form, on a big platter equals party pleaser.  I have found this out the hard way.  Early on in our entertaining days, since I'm a pescatarian, we would make shrimp for me when meat was the main course.  But soon found out that everyone else loved them so much that they would eat up the small amount we made.  We realized that we often didn't make enough for everyone to partake.  Rookie move...that we remedied that quite quickly.  Now, if shrimp is on the menu, it's in quantities that can feed the entire crowd, not just selfish me.

If we get larger size shrimp (does that mean they aren't really shrimp?) then we often leave the shells on. It exudes a ton of flavor.  Marinate and cook them fully cloaked so that all that flavor from the shell cooks into the shrimp meat.   Then suck on the shell before peeling it off.  Don't groan and tell me that's gross.  It's delicious.  For this recipe you can peel the shell first or leave it on.  Your choice.  Either way this dish is about the play off the heat of the spicy shrimp cooled by the creaminess of the avocado and fresh cool tomato that makes it so satisfying.  I like this dish for a summer outdoor party or a late Saturday afternoon lunch. 

The setup.

Ingredients

1.5 lb. large shrimp
2 avocados, cut into chunks
scrapings of avocado from the skin
2-3 medium (heirloom) tomatoes, thick slices
3-4 large garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 T jalapeño pepper, finely minced*
1/2 - 1 T Chili oil, or 1-2 t crushed red pepper flakes* 
1.5 -2 T ginger, grated*
1.5 T cilantro, chopped
1/2 c red onion, sliced
1 t salt
1/3 c olive oil
1/2 c white wine to deglaze pan
2 c basmati rice
1/4 c scallions, sliced
1/3 c cilantro
1 lemon, quartered
* These ingredients bring the heat. Adjust the amount according to how hot you like your food.

Dressing

avocado scrapings from the inside of the shell
2 T fresh lemon juice
salt, pepper
1/2 c Olive oil
Whisk together all above ingredients
1 T cilantro, minced for garnish
1 T scallions, sliced for garnish

Instructions

In a bowl, combine garlic, jalapeño, chili oil, cilantro, ginger, scallions, red onion, salt and oil.  Mix together with shrimp ensuring all are coated.  Place in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour to marinate.  

Make it sing with spice!

Combine it all in non reactive bowl. I like glass

Let those shrimps get cozy with heat.

While the shrimp are marinating, cook the rice.  I use 1.5 times water to rice ratio, bringing the water to a boil then adding rice.  I add a touch of salt to the water, cover and lower the heat to a simmer.   Let it cook around 15-18 minutes until light and fluffy.

Nothing better than fluffy rice. It's begging for some accents, like scallions and cilantro.

Cut the tomatoes and avocado and assemble your plates so that you only have to add the shrimp and serve.  Make the dressing by scraping out the odds and ends from the avocado shell.  Add them to all the dressing ingredients an whisk together, and set aside. 

You can create a family style platter. Or you can individually plate them using the avocado shells to hold the rice.   

Then sauté the shrimp in a cast iron pan over medium high heat.  You want to get a nice sear on both sides. Shrimp do not take but 2-3  minutes to cook.  Keep in mind that they will continue to cook once removed from the heat. 

Get some good color and crust on them. Yum!

While the shrimp are cooking, toss the scallions and cilantro into the rice.  You can plate it by using the avocado shells, or simply plate alongside the tomato and avocado. Be creative, and make a pretty plate.

Fill the shell as a rice holder.

Or just lay the rice up against the tomatoes.

After all the shrimp are cooked, sauté the marinade in the pan, then add a splash of white wine. 

Pour over the shrimp and place them on the platter, garnishing with the lemon pieces.  Drizzle the avocado dressing over the tomatoes and avocado. You can sprinkle more cilantro over the shrimp with a squeeze of lemon, too. Serve immediately. 

I love all the textures of this dish.  Fluffy, soft rice. Crisp, sweet but spicy shrimp. Creamy Avocado and Cool, sweet tomatoes.  What's not to love?  Let your shrimp scream.

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Butter Lettuce with Orange, Blueberries & Crunch

It's funny how some ingredients gravitate towards one another. Or maybe it's me that gravitates towards them. Either way, it's nice to meet up with refreshing ingredients. 

Such as Butter lettuce. I enjoy its soft, delicate taste.  And even though it is mild, it's not too precious that it can't handle some zing and crunch.

Which is why I paired it with orange segments for the zing and seeds for the crunch, and blueberries just because.  Well, not just because. Everything should have a purpose, and these certainly do.  They provide yet another flavor level, adding the tart/sweet level to be exact.  I've made this salad a bunch of time (using nuts)  but the blueberries are a recent addition, as this salad hit the big time, this go around.

Straight up sunflower seeds

Bursting with a tart bite blueberries

This is not a complicated salad, yet it is complex in flavors and textures that all mingle beautifully with a variety of proteins for the main meal. Such as steaks, grilled or roasted fish, pork or chicken.  Its flavors are mild enough so as not to compete, but bold enough to say 'I'm crisp and refreshing, so don't pass me up."  What more can you want from a simple salad? I, dare say, not much. 

So, when during my recent internship at a prep kitchen in Miami I was tasked with making a salad for family meal (that's when the entire staff eats lunch together), I thought this salad might fit the bill. I've always enjoyed it, and was hoping that my new found friends would like it, too.  What I didn't expect was that head Chef MJ liked it so much she decided to offer it at the café for a lunch special the following week.  If you could see my face you would see joy and pride, and a sense of ultimate validation. I guess this little salad of bold flavors and subtle notes from a delicate lettuce got its star on the big screen stage of eateries. 

The line up.

Ingredients
 

(Serves 6 as main or 8-10 as a side salad)

2 heads Butter, Bibb or Boston lettuce
3 oranges, segmented
1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup pecans, roasted, chopped or sunflower or pumpkin seeds
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3 scallions, sliced
 

Dressing

5 t orange juice
4 t lemon juice
4 t lime juice
2/3 c olive oil
2 T cilantro, minced
1 T ginger, grated
2-3 crushed garlic clove
salt, pepper to taste

Instructions

Wash and completely dry the lettuce. Gently tear it into bite size pieces.  If you are using pecans, place them in a 300 degree oven for 5-8 minutes to lightly toast.  Or you can toast them in a pan on the stove.  If you are using seeds such as sunflower or pumpkin, you can toast them or not.  Segment the oranges over a bowl so you can catch all the juices and use for the dressing. Toss together the lettuce, scallions, onions, ⅔ of the orange segments, ⅔ of the pecans or seeds reserving the remainder to decorate the top of the salad.  Whisk together all the ingredients and lovingly pour over the salad and mix well.  Do not over dress the salad.  You just want it all lightly coated.  Then using the rest of the oranges and nuts decorate the top.

You may notice some radicchio in this closeup shot. At the last minute, I added some to bulk up the salad because we had another person joining for lunch.

This is a wonderfully, refreshing summer salad.  Or anytime salad.  I think it will brighten any BBQ.  Pair it with spicy ribs.  Pair it with grilled meats or sausages.  Pair it with whole roasted fish.  Go ahead, pair it with anything.  

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Roasted & Spiced Cabbage Slabs

Sometimes plain. Sometimes not.
Sometimes spiced, making it hot.

This little rhyme reminded me of an old commercial for chocolate bars. 
'Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't.' 

I realized it's exactly the same when adding spices. Sometimes you feel like spicing things up a bit while others times not.  It got me thinking about the last few recipes I posted.  In the category of 'sometimes plain', my recent post for a quick, pull together stir fry didn't utilize any spices. That recipe was all about letting the vegetables do the talking.  In the 'sometimes not' category, my recipe for cauliflower was all about zinging up the veg and making them sing.

Although I'm not feeling like a nut, I am definitely yearning more spice lately.  It could just be 2018, as many things are being spiced up for me this year. My 2017 was a bit bland, but 2018 is shaping up to be banging.

So with that, here's another spiced up idea for slabs of vegetables.  Given the recent slabbing of cauliflower and dousing with spices, the heads of cabbage were destined to meet the same fate.

Normally, my first 3 thoughts for using cabbage are:

1. Slaw
2. Soup
3. Stir fry

On first viewing, I see cabbage and think of slaw. Hence being at the top of the list.  Then soup, then stir fry.  Since slaw is usually cold food/warm weather food- scratch that.  Number two on the list is soup and that completely fits the cold weather/warm food criteria, and was actually my intention when I bought them.  However, I just wasn't feeling soupy. And third on the list was stir fry.  And as you know, of the three cabbages I bought, the Savoy cabbage actually did make it into the stir fry recipe. But now I had two other heads staring back at me.  My need for variety coupled with my recent desire for spice was screaming at me, 'You can't make stir fry again!'   

Which forced me to add #4 to my hit list...

Roast it, baby!

Hey, this is not such a far fetched idea.  I roast everything.  Much like the cauliflower, it was time to heat things up both in temperature and flavor.

Once again, not wanting a big fuss because I had no idea how this would turn out or what I would serve this with, I kept the prep fairly simple.

Ingredients

1 small purple cabbage, cut in 3/4 - 1" slabs
1 small green cabbage, cut in 3/4 - 1" slabs
1 rounded t each of cayenne, turmeric, paprika
1 t salt
¼ t red pepper flakes
1 heaping T freshly grated ginger
1 heaping T grated garlic
4-5 T olive oil

Instructions

Cut the cabbage in thick slabs and place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 T oil.

In small bowl, mix the cayenne, turmeric and paprika. Then sprinkle the mixture on both sides of the cabbage slabs.

In another small bowl, grate the ginger and garlic, add the red pepper flakes, salt and oil.  Mix and then brush on each slab.

Roast in a 425 degree oven until soft in the middle and a little crisp on the edges, turning them to ensure they are well roasted on both sides. 

Once they were done I will admit I wasn't sure what I would do with big spicy slabs.  Certainly, they could be served as a side dish with jasmine rice and grilled chicken or fish.  This would be great with Tikka Chicken and a cucumber yogurt sauce. But I didn't have any of that made, so I packed them up and stored them in the fridge.  As the next day dawned, these spiced cabbages solved a lunch dilemma.  I decided they would be the feature in Indian inspired tacos.  I sautéd some spinach and warmed the cabbage. Grilled corn tortillas melting some cheese on them. Then filled them with the vegetables and topping it with sour cream.  Quite the tasty bite.

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