Tag Archives: soup

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

During my maternity leave I was super blessed by our church’s meals program for new moms. Basically, people sign up and bring you food. Heaven on earth. During those days when it seems like all you are doing is feeding an insatiable infant (lovely and wonderful, but dang do they eat a lot in those early days!), having a hot meal brought to your very doorstep is glorious.

It was especially glorious because of the number of incredible cooks in our congregation. We got fabulous lasagna from Traci. A savory and comforting brussel sprout and chicken sausage roast from Peter and Jamie. These awesome slow cooker pork chops from Jana that fell apart practically as soon as you looked at them. You can believe that I sent email after email asking for recipes during that time.

First up for recreation in my own kitchen was this fabulous Thai soup from Sarah. The soup has zip without being too spicy. It’s a burst of awesomeness on the palate that also sits lightly in the stomach–you won’t be going to bed with a rock in the gut after eating a bowl of this. And the lime juice–oh the lime juice. So bright! So zesty! In my mind, fresh lime juice is just another finger pointing to a loving Creator, and I’m not kidding either. (Any other lime juice fanatics out there?) And Sarah amped things up by adding shiitake mushrooms, which I happen to absolutely love. After emailing her and asking for the recipe, she said it came from America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook. Irony of ironies, I had that very cookbook from the library sitting in my living room (also the source of the amazing Cajun Corn Chowder that I’ve already made three times in the past two months). So go Sarah! Go America’s Test Kitchen! And with some of Sarah’s modifications plus some of mine, here’s the recipe.

(Serves 6)

Ingredients

1 TBS vegetable oil
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 large shallots, minced
4 cups chicken broth
2-14 oz cans coconut milk
2 TBS fish sauce
1 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS sugar
8 oz white or cremini mushrooms, sliced
8 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, sliced on the diagonal into thin ovals
8 oz snow peas, strings removed, cut in half
Juice of 2 limes
2 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 bunch green onions, minced
Salt, pepper, and more sugar to taste

1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

2. Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Just when it starts smoking, add the chicken breast and brown on both sides. Set the chicken aside.

3.  Add the minced shallots to the pot and cook over medium heat until softened.

4. Add the broth and coconut milk to the pot along with 1 TBS of fish sauce, the soy sauce and the sugar. Stir everything together, scraping up any browned bits.

5.  Add the chicken breast back in, cover the pot, and simmer the soup for about 10 minutes.

6. Remove the chicken breast to a cutting board and dice or shred into bite-sized pieces.

7. Add all the vegetables to the soup and simmer for 3-5 minutes, until just tender.

8. In a small bowl, whisk together the curry paste, lime juice and remaining fish sauce. Add it to the soup along with the chicken.

9. Taste, re-season if needed, stir in the green onions, and serve hot!

Thank you Sarah and thank you church friends for bringing such great food and being such a blessing to our little family!

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Creamy Cauliflower Cheddar Soup

I’ve been delaying my post on this fabulous soup because my pictures are butt ugly and I was ashamed to share them with you. Butt. Ugly. Something about the pasty color, the lack of light in my kitchen, the glare of the flash–it was a depressing food shoot. But I’m swallowing my feelings about the pictures because this soup is worth it. With potatoes and cheese and cauliflower and a dash of mustard, it’s comforting and wonderful, and it would be a crime if a little picture trouble prevented me from putting it out there.

I didn’t realize how wonderful this soup was at first because I consumed most of my bowl while the soup was still hot as blazes. As the taste buds were nearly burned out of my mouth, I pondered “this soup is okay–yeah, I guess it’s pretty good.” But once the soup had cooled down, my taste buds had recovered from the shock and I actually started tasting the thing, my enthusiasm grew. It was really good, and I regretted not waiting for it to cool down to a tasteable temperature from the get-go.

So after that heart-warming story, let’s make it! From this recipe on Amy’s amazing blog (Very Culinary), let’s welcome our guest of honor, Creamy Cauliflower Cheddar Soupdiddly-oup-diddly-oup.

Ingredients

(Serves 5)

2 TBS butter
2 shallots
1 yellow onion
Kosher salt, to taste
1 medium potato
2 cloves garlic
3 ½ cups vegetable broth
½ head of cauliflower
2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 tsp Dijon mustard

There are the ingredients . . . but have I forgotten something?

Yes! The potato.

Okay, we are now complete.

Sorry, I can’t say the word “complete” without thinking of the Emperor. “Your journey towards the dark side will be complete.” Seriously, say “complete” like the Emperor does. It’s addicting.

Chop the potato into smallish cubes (peel only if desired–I didn’t desire).

Chop up the shallots and onion.

Mince the garlic too! But you’ve seen enough pictures of me mincing garlic. Right? No? Okay, fine.

But just because you asked.

The mincing of the garlic will be complete.

Chop the cauliflower into small florets–but no need to be pretty here. A rough chop will do, because it will all be pureed anyway.

Shred the cheese–and shred extra so that there’s plenty for garnish.

And by “garnish” I mean that gooey, wonderful mess on top of the soup that will make your mouth water and your eyes leak tears of gratitude for the human being who first created this thing called “cheese.”

Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the shallots and onion and cook for 3 minutes, until softened.

And one more time . . . the softening of the onions will be complete.

Okay, okay. I won’t do it again . . . in writing.

But I’ll be doing it in my mind.

Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add a sprinkling of salt, the cubed potato, and the vegetable broth.

 Bring to a boil, then cover the pot . . .

. . . lower the heat, and simmer for 8 minutes (until the potatoes are tender).

Add the cauliflower . . .

. . . cover the pot again, and cook for another 10 minutes.

Puree the soup to your desired consistency with an immersion blender:

I like mine with a little chunk still left in it.

Now, stir in the cheese and mustard. I had it prepped in a pile–doesn’t it look attractive? Altogether yummy?

Or not.

Thankfully it will all disappear into the creamy bowels of the soup. One might even say that the disappearing of the cheese and mustard into the soup will be . . .

*resisting* *resisting*

Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt and black pepper if needed.

Serve with extra cheese sprinkled on top!

Not the most photogenic of soups–but delicious! The subtle tang of mustard is just perfect.

Thank you Amy for another great recipe!

Click here for printer-friendly version: Creamy Cauliflower Cheddar Soup