Coconut Curry Butternut Squash and Shrimp Soup

This one is an ultimate pantry bust! I am getting more comfortable pantry busting in unusual ways and with different flavor profiles.

The other day, I was on Pinterest and saw several posts for variations on Thai Curry Soup. As soon as I saw the pictures, my mouth began to water and I knew that I needed to make something for dinner that had those amazing Thai flavors of coconut, acidity, savory fishiness and awesome spiciness.

I turned to fridge and pantry, intent on finding ingredients that could contribute to this profile. I found a can of coconut milk and some frozen shrimp that someone who was moving and purging their freezer had given us. I always have on hand chicken bouillon. I happened to discover yellow curry paste a few months ago and had that sitting in the back of the fridge. Yellow curry paste is unbelievable. It keeps for a while in a fridge and a tablespoon is all you need to have an awesome curry dish. Rather than fussing with adding cool spices to my curry powder, I can dollop a spoon of paste into my dish and call it a day. The paste includes lemongrass, garlic, shallot, salt, galangal, dried red chili, coriander seed, kaffir lime peel, cumin, cinnamon, mace, turmeric and cardamom and no weird added stuff. Ughhh...so good. This is the brand that I use. I found it at an Asian supermarket.

 
I always have a cilantro bunch and a couple limes. Sidenote, limes and cilantro are staples that I always keep on hand. Their bright flavors go into a lot of the dishes that I make, whether it is an Asian or Latin inspired dish.

I knew that I could make a great soup with the chicken broth, coconut milk, shrimp, curry paste, lime and cilantro but then I spied a lonely carton of Butternut Squash soup. It had been sitting in the pantry for a while. I knew that its sweet and creamy qualities would be awesome in the soup!

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash and Shrimp Soup

1 small onion, chopped
1/3 cup of chopped cilantro stems
1 T olive oil
2 T yellow curry paste
1 t minced ginger
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 cups of chicken broth
1 can of coconut milk
4 cups of butternut squash soup
Zest of 2 limes
Approximately 20 defrosted EZ peel shrimp, peeled
Peels from the shrimp
Juice of 1 lime
1/3 c. fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Preheat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onion and cilantro stems in the olive oil until onions are translucent, approximately 5 minutes. 

Add the yellow curry paste, ginger and garlic. Stir to combine.

Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth.

Add the coconut milk, squash soup and lime zest to the pan. *If you don't have butternut squash soup on hand or would prefer to jazz up your soup, feel free to peel and chop a butternut squash, toss in some olive oil, roast until soft, puree with a little milk or chicken broth and then add that to the soup. I would imagine that chunks of roasted squash would also be unbelievable in this soup.

Add the shrimp to the pot. I left them whole but feel free to chop them.

Place the shrimp peels inside a piece of cheese cloth. Tie the cheese cloth to contain the peels. I grabbed a large mulling ball from my pantry. It contained all of my peels and kept them from getting lost in the soup. Whatever you use, submerge your contained shrimp peels in the soup.

Let the soup simmer on medium low for at least 30 minutes before serving to ensure that the shrimp cooks and the peels impart great flavor into the soup. 

*I chose to use shrimp because I had them on hand. I didn't have any fish sauce on hand which is the key to imparting a slight salty, fishy quality to any good Thai dish. I hoped that the shrimp would bring a little of the fish sauce quality to the dish. If you don't have shrimp but do have fish sauce, feel free to substitute the shrimp for 1 tbsp of the fish sauce. 

Before serving, stir in the lime juice and chopped cilantro leaves.

This is great by itself but would also be great served with rice noodles or brown rice. We served ours with a side of frozen vegetable gyoza that we pan-fried.

P.S. Please excuse the poor quality pictures, I was so excited to slurp this soup for dinner that I rushed through the picture-taking!

BBQ Time- Brisket, Cheddar Biscuits and Lime Cumin Slaw

In a normal week, for the sake of our budget, I make a lot of veggie meals and occasionally incorporate chicken from a "family pack". We have always been attracted to the idea of visiting a local butcher and getting our custom meat cuts for the week [a la Ina Garten wandering down into the Hamptons and visiting her local butcher before visiting her florist best friend before popping in on Gwyneth Paltrow] but it was never in our budget. This week we found a coupon for a cool local butcher shop, Oliver's Meat Market [www.oliversmeatmarketllc.com] and, conveniently, didn't need to buy a lot of grocery staples and were able to put that money towards a meaty splurge!

We drooled over cuts of pork butt, prosciutto and roast but settled on some awesome beef brisket. Sam had wanted to try smoking a brisket, the type of smoking where you tend coals all day and work with indirect heat. He followed an online recipe for Oklahoma Joe's brisket [http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/oklahoma-joes-smoked-brisket-flat-recipe/index.html]. 

The night before the BBQ he slathered the brisket in mustard and a spice rub. While our coals started to burn, he soaked hickory chips. 

He poured out the coals and spread to either side of the grill, placed the brisket on a rack in between, spritzed every so often with apple juice and let it turn into this:

 
 We invited some friends over. I supplied a few sides and we had an awesome BBQ! 

For sides, I sauteed fresh corn on the cob that was incredibly in-season. It was so sweet that Emmett kept begging for raw kernels!

I also made cheddar biscuits and a simple lime cumin cole slaw. The biscuits were TDF and the cole slaw was simple with the perfect mix of salt, acidity and sweetness.

Cheddar Biscuits
*Yields approximately 8 biscuits
6 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese
3 cups of flour
2 T brown sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 c. butter, cut into large cubes
1 large egg
3/4 cup of buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
 
In a food processor, pulse the cheese for 10 to 15 seconds to finely chop it. [If not using a food processor, simply grate your cheese]. 

Add the dry ingredients to the food processor and pulse for 5 seconds to sift, mix and combine with the cheese.

Add the butter cubes to the food processor and pulse for 5 to 10 seconds until the mixture resembles a course meal.

Again, you can do this with your hands, a fork or a pastry cutter instead.

Whisk the egg into the buttermilk or pseudo-buttermilk mixture [that is what I used]. With the food processor running, pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture until it starts to come together, approximately 10-15 seconds. In a food processor, the liquid will tend to bind on the bottom first, so stop processing when the top of the mixture still looks crumbly.

O

Pour the mixture, crumbles and all, onto a floured counter top and give it a few kneads until the mixture comes together. 

Form the mixture into a ball and then roll the ball out until it forms a disc that has a depth of approximately 1 inch.

Get a circle cookie cutter or a glass [what I used] that matches the size that you would like your biscuits to be [I have used shot glasses in the past to make bite sized biscuits]. Place the rim of your glass or cookie cutter in a little flour and get to cutting out your biscuits.

Place your biscuits on a baking sheet [I threw a silpat on mine for good measure] and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until slightly browned.

 
I used the globules and discarded edges from my biscuit cooking to make a "mega-biscuit" for Sam and I to sample! Whoops!

What was the perfect pair to our salty, smoky, spicy brisket and cheesy, buttery biscuits? My simple and tangy cole slaw!!

Kristi's Go-To Slaw
4 T sour cream or greek yogurt
4 T light mayo
Juice of 1/2 a lime
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp sugar [agave nectar or honey would be awesome, I just didn't have any]
1/4 of an onion, finely sliced
1 bag of cole slaw mix

*I recommend making the cole slaw at least 2 hours before eating it so that it has time to come together and "percolate."
 
In the bottom of a bowl, whisk the sour cream, mayo, lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin and sugar until combined. *Hint: If you make this in a large tupperware or a bowl with a lid, it makes the mixing and storing a lot easier.

Add the onion slices to the dressing and stir to combine.

Add the bag of cole slaw to the mix and toss to combine. If you made the slaw in a container with a lid, simply put the lid on and shake until combined.

Refrigerate until ready to serve and enjoy!

Ginger Peach Crisp

I am a sucker for freebies. Meaning that when my friend gives me a bag of 40+ little peaches from the peach trees in her yard, I am going to use them. This morning I peeled these dang tiny peaches and cut approximately a tablespoon or two worth of peach flesh off of each dang tiny peach.

But, in the end, I got to spend my son's nap time relaxing and wafting in the smell of Ginger Peach Crisp baking in the oven. 

Normally, I way prefer cooking to baking. I am too impatient to perfectly measure ingredients and am a little too clumsy for a lot of the fine motor skills required for pastry work.

But then there are crisps! It is hard to mess up a crisp. Start with great fruit, add enough butter to your crumble topping, bake until golden on top and bubbling at the sides and you got yourself a good time! 

Today I decided to spice up my life a bit by adding powdered ginger to both the fruit mixture and the crumb. Ginger and peach is a phenomenal combo and the ginger sends the cobbler flying out of the one dimensional world of sweet on sweet. 

Another trick that I use in all of my crisps, is to add a healthy pinch of salt to the crumb. It makes all the flavors pop and is a delight to my salty sweet cravings!

Ginger Peach Crisp
Fruit Filling:
5-6 pounds of peeled and sliced peaches [Don't worry about being homogenous in your slices...I had some small chunks and they just cooked down quicker than the bigger chunks and contributed to a great sauce]
3 T flour
3/4 cup brown sugar [I had dark on hand but light or white sugar would work great]
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. ground ginger
*If peaches are not very ripe, feel free to add in a 1/2 cup of apple or orange juice

Crumb:
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup of oats [I used quick cooking but any variety is fine]
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 t salt
1 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 stick of butter
Optional but awesome: 4 oz. of chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds 

 Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

 Hopefully, by this point, you have not exhausted yourself by peeling and cutting a jillion tiny peaches but have chosen to use ripe, normal sized peaches.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together all of the fruit filling ingredients until the flour, sugar and natural liquids have formed a nice gloss over the peaches.

*Sidenote, the flour is essential to make a everything hold together in the filling. An equal amount of corn starch would work just fine in place of the flour. When I have not used a binder in my crisp making, I still had a great tasting crisp but had a bunch of fruit juice and loose fruit slices on the bottom rather than having a more cohesive pie filling. 

After you have assembled your fruit filling, place all of your dry crumb ingredients into a mixing bowl. Stir ingredients together to combine. It will look something like this:

Then add your stick of butter. It makes things a little better if you cut your stick down into a few squares before attempting to mix it in.

Using your hands, crumble the butter into the dry mixture until the mixture resembles a course meal.

Butter a baking dish. For this crisp, I chose an oval casserole dish that was small enough to allow my fruit mixture to come right up to top of the dish. Pour your fruit mixture into the buttered dish and cover with the crumb topping. Pile that crumb topping high! Don't worry...the fruit shrinks down as it cooks, and who wouldn't want a lot of the crumb?

This is what my crisp looked like before going into the oven:

Bake on the lower rack of your oven for approximately an hour or until the crumb has browned nicely and, most importantly, the filling has begun to bubble up around the sides of the crumb.

You can still see some bubbling in this picture. You can also tell that the flour in the filling really did the trick of making an amazing syrup rather than peach juice.

You can eat this fresh from the oven or let it cool. If you want to serve it warm later, just place it in a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes-ish. Obviously vanilla bean ice cream would be amazing served alongside. You also wouldn't find me complaining if someone drizzled some homemade caramel sauce over it.

Ugh!! I cannot wait to eat this. We are bringing it to our peach-giving friends for dessert tonight. Thus, I didn't think it appropriate to leave a gaping hole in the side of it.

Gringa Food

I am a New Yorker. This means that when confronted with a slice of pizza, I can NEVER say no, even if it were offered to me after a full Thanksgiving dinner. This is not my fault, it is in my New York blood. This also means that on-the-go breakfast has always meant getting either Dunkin Donuts or stopping by your local bagel place and getting an unbelievable bagel.

My little world was blown when I moved to Denver. First of all, Dunkin Donuts doesn't exist out here and no one even knows the glory of a New York bagel. In Denver, the go-to on the go breakfast food is a breakfast burrito. Just as you see bagel breakfast combo specials advertised on the side of bagel places up and down the streets in NY, Denver is loaded with restaurants advertising, "Open at 6 AM, $1.99 breakfast burritos."

And, oh man, are they phenomenal! Almost enough to make me not miss my NY bagels, almost. Another phenomenal Mexican favorite that I barely knew existed...the chili relleno.

In honor of my world being blown by the amazing Mexican food that Denver has to offer, I submit to you two easy gringa [white girl] takes on some delish Mexican dishes.

First, and easiest of all, my delicious and simple take on chili rellenos.

Gringa Chili Rellenos
6 Anaheim Peppers [feel free to use whatever type you like, Anaheim is just the right amount of heat to me...peppery tasting without blasting my face off] 
8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese [again, in true pantry bustin style...use up whatever cheese you like].
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lime sliced into six slices
Optional: Tortilla chips for dippin'

Turn on your broiler. Slice one lengthwise cut in each of your chilies to create a cheese pocket. If you are nervous about heat levels, feel free to remove the seeds at this point. It will reduce the heat level.

Stuff 1/6th of your cheese into the cavity/cheese pocket of each chili, leaving a little bit of cheese coming out of the cavity. 

Sprinkle the top of each chili with salt and pepper. Place onto a cookie sheet.

Broil until cheese has melted and the chilies have begun to char on top.

Serve the chilies with the lime slices or squeeze some lime juice over the top of each chili before serving. The acidity is great with the pepper and cheese!

Now that all I want to eat is gloopy, cheesy Mexican food, let me give you some quick instructions on the ultimate breakfast pantry buster...breakfast burritos.

Pantry Bustin' Breakfast Burritos
6-8 tortillas
6 eggs, scrambled
Literally empty out your fridge or pantry of anything with a Mexican flare. 
Refried beans, black beans, corn [we used leftover cumin-roasted corn], cheese, chopped tomatoes, sliced onions, green onions, green chile, cilantro, sliced jalapeno, any breakfast meat you want [the breakfast burrito places often put crumbled chorizo in their's...oh my gosh!], defrosted frozen hash browns or some cooked potato chunks.
Salsa and Sour Cream to top or dunk in. *Don't put either of these in before hand because they might make the tortilla a little mushy.


Preheat the oven to 325 while scrambling eggs and preparing any of your other fillings. 


Assemble your fillings around your tortilla filling station so that every thing is close at hand.

Layer your fillings in your tortilla and roll into a burrito. 

Helpful hint: To get a well-rolled burrito, place your fillings in a horizontal line towards the upper part of your tortilla [I know because I rolled it oddly and lengthwise in the above picture and my burrito looked dumb]. Before rolling downward, roll up about an inch of the left and right sides of the burrito to slightly cover your filling. Then roll downward while keeping the sides folded in. This method will make sure that your fillings stay in place. 

                                      My cute Aunt Tis rolling burritos for the Big Fam in Pittsburgh.


You can eat these as soon as they are rolled BUT I found that they tasted a lot better after sitting in the oven for about 15 minutes. The cheese melted, the tortilla softened and the flavors melded together amazingly! 


I placed all of my burritos in a casserole dish but you can also roll each individual burrito in aluminum foil. This helps you if you truly want them to be on-the-go!

Cranberry Lime Green Tea Granita

Oh my this is good, I mean really good!! Think the best shaved ice ever but with more flavor. This dessert came about when I was doing some true pantry busting. It was frickin hot out and I wanted something really refreshing for me and my boys! I scoured the fridge, freezer and pantry and came up with a bag of frozen cranberries that had been jammed in my freezer since Thanksgiving [I can almost confidently say that it was even from this past Thanksgiving], a half-used container of lime juice [good organic stuff not creepy juice from a faux plastic lime ], sugar and some green tea. I remembered when my good friend Anna made me hibiscus tea granita [strong hibiscus tea with and slowly frozen]. It got me thinking that granita is an awesome pantry buster- take whatever tea or juice you want, add in some fruit, if you want and however and whatever type of sweetener you want and you got yourself a good time.

Cranberry Lime Green Tea Granita
8 green tea bags [I used Celestial Seasons Blackberry Pomegranate Green Tea]
4 c boiling water
1 c. sugar
1 c. frozen, fresh cranberries
7 T lime juice
6 ice cubes

Steep the tea bags in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove tea bags.

Stir in sugar until sugar has dissolved.

Add frozen cranberries to liquid. Allow to defrost in liquid. *You can absolutely use fresh cranberries. I had leftover ones that I had frozen. I thought that by adding them to the liquid, I would help expedite the cooling down process.

Once cranberries have defrosted, add them and a few tablespoons of the liquid to a blender or food processor. Pulse until pureed, about 15 seconds.

Stir cranberry puree, lime juice and ice cubes into the liquid. You can sub about a 1/2 c. of water for the ice cubes, but I was trying to come up with more tricks for expediting the cooling down process.

Once the ice cubes have dissolved, pour your mixture into a shallow baking dish and place in your freezer.

Now all you have to do is wait, and “stir” occasionally with a fork to break up the ice into what looks like shaved ice.

My mixture didn’t begin developing ice until an hour and a half into the freezing process.

I stirred and broke up at that point and continued to do so about every 45 minutes after that. Below is a picture of the granita about 45 minutes before I called it done.

It took about 4 hours of freezing and occasional stirring to yield my granita.

Once frozen, you can move the mixture to a tupperware and keep in your freezer...it will continue to freeze so I recommend eating pretty quickly after the 4 hours! The perfect summer dessert!

Too bad that my family hated it and could barely force it down!

 

Lemon Herb Marinated Chicken for the Big Fam

While vacaying with the family, I wanted to make a big summer meal with lots of fresh, varied flavors. Meanwhile, my husband and brother had a hankering to make a large grill out of rocks. Enter grilled, lemon herb marinated chicken!

This chicken was the perfect protein to tie together a Mediterranean smorgasbord type of meal. We bought pitas and hit up the olive bar at the local grocery store. I made tzatziki and greek salad. Mamah [my grandma] made a good ole' fruit salad and my mom made a killer dill and feta cole slaw. For my cute, vegetarian sis in law [and also because I wanted to feast on grilled veggies] we grilled zucchini slices and then made aluminum foil packets full of mushrooms, onions and red bell peppers that we threw around the coals.

Mamah's grill was broken so the boys excitedly took the grate off of her grill and put it over some coals in between some big rocks in the yard.

 

A few hours before the boys crafted a grill, I began marinating my chicken. 

Lemon Herb Marinated Chicken [for a crowd of 20]

10 chicken breasts, sliced into tenderloins [about 4-5 slices per breast]

1 cup of olive oil

Juice of 4 lemons

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup each of chopped parsley, basil, dill and green onion

Mix together everything but the chicken in a large roasting pan [or divide between however you want to marinate your chicken-several ziploc bags, a couple mixing bowls...whatever fits in your fridge].

Add in the chicken, toss to coat the chicken. Cover and marinate for at least 2 hours.

After marinating, throw on the grill and cook until done. Approximately 5 minutes a side.

While we grilled chicken, we also grilled zucchini slices that we sprinkled with salt, pepper and oregano.

The boys lined the charcoal with the tin foil packs filled with veggies. This is an awesome cooking technique....I have had foil packs filled with chicken and a little barbecue sauce, I have also had mussels with herbs and a little white wine. The meat stays super tender and still gets a little smoky! Roll out a long rectangle of foil. Place your veggies or meat on one side. Fold the other half over the meat or veg then fold up the remaining three sides to seal everything.

When all was said and done, we had an unbelievable family meal, made even cooler when the buffet line was in Mamah's retro kitchen! My fave way to eat all the Mediterranean goodness was to stuff the veg, chicken, tzatziki and greek salad into the pita and eat it all souvlaki sandwich style!

Cooking for the Big Family with Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Poor Sauce on the Wall! You have been so neglected whilst I have frolicked around the country, living it up with the family. We just got back from a week and a half in Pittsburgh. My extended family met up at my grandmother's big farm home outside of Pittsburgh. We drove in from Boston, New York and Nashville and flew in from Seattle and Denver. We took turns tickling Emmett, explored Pittsburgh, sweated our brains out in the humidity and ate a lot of amazing food. 

I volunteered to cook most of the big family dinners under the guise of "needing material for the blog" but mostly because I love feeding loved ones and I love spending time in the kitchen with my aunt, mom and sister when they come in to help!

After the rest of us had been there a couple days, my aunt, her family and my sister drove from the Northeast to join the party. I thought that it would be great to welcome them, after a day of driving, to the family fun with a Fiesta Night.

We had latin-inspired, refreshing summer drinks and a chip n' dip happy hour waiting for them. We bought a few containers of pico de gallo, made queso [yes, good ole Velveeta melted with salsa] and Mom made her to die for mango nectarine salsa.

I wanted time to be with my family and didn't want to be in the kitchen all day cooking for 15 so I turned to my go-to slow cooker salsa chicken for the main course. 

This chicken is awesome because it is flavorful and can so easily become the basis for a healthy, easy latin meal. 

We chose to make a burrito bar. We bought tortillas, grabbed the leftover salsa from happy hour, chopped tomatoes, lettuce and onions, shredded some cheese and put out some sour cream. We supplemented with some pan-roasted fresh corn [my roasted corn with cumin and feta from a few posts ago, minus the feta and with the addition of a little lime juice at the end].

Mom made homemade refried black beans [chop and saute a little onion and garlic, add in cumin, salt, pepper and a little chili powder, then add in a few cans of black beans and mash together].

 Mom mashing her refried beans with a potato masher.

 The beginnings of our burrito bar in Mamah's retro kitchen.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
*I have made this chicken before simply by covering chicken breasts in some store bought salsa, throwing then in a slow cooker on low for 6 hours and calling it a day. I amped this one up a bit for the fam.

2-3 pounds of chicken breasts
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 T ground cumin
1 tall jar of salsa [I chose to make a more verde style of chicken this time so I used Pace salsa verde to top]
1/2 t black pepper
3 roma tomatoes roughly chopped
2 anaheim peppers, broiled until charred then chopped

*This is a great pantry buster...you can add in anything latin-flavored that you need to use up. Chuck in some cilantro or green onion before serving. Add in a spare can of canned tomatoes. Throw in some beans in the last couple hours of slow cookery. Chop up any veggies that you want to use up....zucchini, carrots, additional onions and peppers.

Place chicken in a slow cooker, cover with all remaining ingredients. Cook on low for at least 6 hours. Before serving, pull chicken breasts from crock pot and shred with 2 forks. Return shredded chicken to the crockpot and stir to mix into the juices and vegetables. At this point, you can leave the entire chicken mixture on warm until ready to serve.

*This is also a great way to stretch chicken, and your budget. I probably used 8 chicken breasts and fed 15 people with leftovers for the next couple of days. My fave re-use of the chicken was when we stuffed quesadillas with it! Mmmmm!