Red Curry Shrimp

Feel free to make your own curry paste.  It’s really easy and willl be worth the effort.  Recipe to follow.

1 (14 oz.) can Coconut Milk (Regular or Lite), (divided)

1 1⁄2 Tbs. Red Curry Paste (see recipe below)

1 Tbs. brown sugar


2 kaffir lime leaves, minced (Or zest and juice of 1/2 lime)

1 lb. large shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 Tbs. fish sauce

1/4 cup basil, chopped

1/2 head cauliflower for rice

In a wok or heavy skillet heat half a can of the coconut milk. Stir in red curry paste and cook until well blended. Add the remaining coconut milk, brown sugar and kaffir lime leaves (or zest and juice) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add shrimp, and cook until shrimp are orange-pink in color, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in fish sauce and chopped basil.

Meanwhile, shred the cauliflower and place in a microwave safe bowl.  Add a few tabespoons of water and microwave covered for about 6 minutes.  Serve shrimp over the “rice”

Red Curry Paste

6-8 dried red chilis

1 stalk Fresh lemon grass OR 1 ts Dried lemon grass

5 Garlic cloves, peeled

3 md Shallots, peeled or about 1/2 medium onion

1 ts Kaffir lime zest OR Lemon zest

1 ts Galanga, fresh or dried* (or use ginger if you can’t find galanga)

Directions

Cut the chili peppers into small pieces & soak them in a cup of cold water for 15 minutes. Separate the seeds & discard them.

Place the prepared chilies into a mortar or food processor. Add the remaining ingredients & blend well until a thick paste, like peanut butter is formed. If the ingredients are too dry, add a few drops of cold water. Put the curry paste in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

* If using dried galanga, soak in cold water for 15 minutes.

Makes 1/2 cup

Baked Cod in Orange Sauce

4 (6 ounce) cod fish fillets

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1/2 tablespoon orange zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Arrange cod fillets on sheets of foil or heavy parchment papper


Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl.

Pour over cod, wrap the foil or paper edges tightly to form a seal and bake for 12-15 minutes until fish is opaque throughout.

Spoon orange sauce over fish and serve with vegetables or rice. Garnish with sprigs of thyme and orange slices, if desired.

Calculated for 1 serving (203g)

Recipe makes 4 servings

Calories 156

Calories from Fat 11

Total Fat 1.3g

Saturated Fat 0.3g

Polyunsat. Fat 0.4g

Monounsat. Fat 0.2g

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 73mg

Sodium 93mg

Potassium 775mg

Total Carbohydrate 3.8g

Dietary Fiber 0.3g

Sugars 2.6g

Protein 30.8g

Meatless Tacos

1/4 cup lentils

1/4 cup chopped onions

1 8oz can tomato sauce (or 11oz gf salsa)

taco seasoning (GF)

8 oz tofu (firm) drained and finely chopped

8 100% corn taco shells, warmed


1/2 cup shredded lettuce

1 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

RInse lentils, drain.  In a medium sauce pan combine lentils, onion and a 1/2 cup water.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for about 30 or unti ltender and liquid is absorbed. 

Stir in tomato sauce (or 8oz of the salsa) and seasoning mix into lentils.  Simmer, uncoveredfor 5 minutes.  Stir in tofu, heat through.  Spoon into taco shells.  Top with lettuce, tomatoes, more salsa and cheese if desired.

This could also be made with rice or cauliflower rice for those with soy allergies.

Spicy Basil Chicken

This was one of the dishes from IAmGlutenFree‘s party this weekend that I still owe an entry about.  This was superb.  I’m changing the recipe up a little bit, but here’s the main rendition of it.

Spicy Basil Chicken

(Gai Pad Gra Pow)

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh Thai holy basil* (bai gra pow), or Thai sweet basil (bai horapa) leaves

1/2 to 1 cup fresh Thai sweet basil* (bai horapa)

2 to 3 Tbsp. oil

4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced

2 to 3 shallots, thinly sliced (or substitute with 1/2 cup sliced onion)


1 lb. boneless chicken, chopped or cut into small bite-sized pieces

2 to 3 fresh jalapeno, cut into large slivers; or 4 to 8 Thai chilies (prik kee noo), minced or chopped

2 small kaffir lime leaves, very finely slivered (optional)

1 to 2 tsp. sweet black soy sauce

1 to 2 Tbsp. Thai Kitchen Premium Fish sauce (to taste)

1 Tbsp. Sugar

ground white pepper (a few dashes to taste)

Directions:


Clean and wash basil leaves. Fresh basil leaves should be left whole; the flowers may also be used. Pull off leaves and flowers and discard the stems.

In a wok add oil and heat until the surface is smoking hot. Add garlic and shallots. Sautee until fragrant. Add chicken. Stir-fry until browned.

Add chilies, kaffir lime leaves (optional) and dried holy basil leaves. Add black soy sauce and stir-fry for an additional 30 seconds. Season to taste with fish sauce and sugar. Stir-in fresh basil. Toss well. Stir-fry another half a minute or until the basil is wilted and the chicken cooked through. Sprinkle with white pepper. Stir and transfer to a serving dish or spoon over individual plates of cooked Thai Kitchen Select Harvest Jasmine Rice.

* Note: You can substitute you favorite basil if specified basil is difficult to find.

New link

You’ll notice a new link in the Health section.  It’s for the Pancreatitis Supporters’ Network in the UK.  My good friend (and mother-in-law) Margaret suffers from this condition.  Anyone with it can’t eat fat.  So I’m hoping that by linking to them, people will submit some wonderful low-fat and no fat recipes for not just my wonderful mother-in-law, but for everyone who has this condition.  C’mon folks… start submitting!! :D

So much food, so little time

I’ve been BUSY this week!!  I have so much to post about, recipes, wine, the party for IamGlutenFree that I helped out with on Saturday.  There is so much going on.  But the point of this particular entry is how I’ve been spending my mornings.

We have two pugs who now have gotten the idea that daylight=walks. That means I’m awake no later than 7:30.  I work 11am to 7pm.  How do I fill the time?  I cook!  I’ve started making our meals up in the morning, either by cooking them outright or like this morning - cooking and prepping another.  Today I had 4lbs of chicken that I was going to use up.  I was using part of it for Sweet and Sour Chicken, the rest was destined to be marinated later on for Lemon Mustard Chicken.  I usually just throw the chicken in a ziplock bag to marinate later, but today I fugured, “You are already going to the effort of bagging it, do something with it!”.  So I went ahead and got the marinade whipped up, and the veggies for the side dish prepped and stored.  Then I shredded all the cauliflower so it’s all ready for the sweet and sour, as well as the Thai Beef and possibly the Spicy Basil Chicken later in the week.  While that was cooking in the microwave, I got the chicken all ready and cooking.  Now I’m just waiting for the chicken to cool so it can be packed away for lunch and dinner.

Not a bad use of my morning if you ask me.  It got me up out of bed, something that is a feat even with coffee.

Grilled Shrimp in Lettuce Leaves with Serrano-Mint Sauce

Big shout out to Rita for finding this recipe for me.  I searched everywhere for it.  She did this for our friend Liz’s baby shower and it totally rocked!

Grilled Shrimp in Lettuce Leaves with Serrano-Mint Sauce

1 pound large shrimp (about 36), peeled and deveined

3 tablespoons canola oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

12 leaves green curly leaf lettuce

Serrano-Mint Sauce, recipe follows

Chili oil, for drizzling, optional

Fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat the grill to medium-high. In a large bowl, toss shrimp in oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until just cooked through. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp, or they will be tough and rubbery. Remove from the grill.

Place about 3 shrimp in each lettuce leaf. Drizzle with the Serrano-Mint Sauce and with a little chili oil, if desired. Sprinkle with a few cilantro leaves. Roll up the lettuce leaves, and eat immediately.

Serrano-Mint Sauce:

1 cup tightly packed mint leaves, plus more for garnish

2 serrano chiles, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 cup white wine vinegar


2 tablespoons fish sauce

Salt

Place all ingredients, except for salt, in a blender. Pulse until smooth. Season, to taste.