Cold weather food returns with another pending dumping of snow headed for Greater Boston (though really, not that much and it *is* winter, after all). This Thai-style Red Curry with Vegetables and Shrimp is one of my favorite winter meals. Why? Because it’s spicy so it warms you up and it is *brilliantly colorful* which warms the soul too. Substitute chicken or beef for the shrimp if you aren’t a seafood person, or just do veggies. Serve with rice. On the table in under 30 minutes. Go!
Lunch
Cauliflower is really underrated, in my opinion. A lot of people think it is bland or flavorless. The white color doesn’t exactly do it any favors either. But you can really use it as anything from a base to a soup to “rice” to in this case, a “steak”. It’s really hearty, flavorful with the nutty brown butter and can truly be used as a substitute for a real steak. I’d serve this to a vegetarian friend, wouldn’t you?
Today’s Soup of the Day: Creamy Sweet Potato Curry Bisque. I feel like I’m in a restaurant whenever someone says “Soup of the Day”. 🙂
It’s actually gotten cooler here in greater Boston, which is nice for mid-October. It’s been too warm for soup until now, but it’s supposed to be the start of Soup Season, right? At any rate, cool enough to make this sweet potato bisque. It’s a variation on my Roasted Butternut Curry Soup, which is one of my favorites. Worked just as well with sweet potatoes. The best part: it freezes really well, so double the recipe and you’ll have a freezer full to last you a while!
And now for something that isn’t baking — cooking for once, instead. I love this recipe — the flavors of the briny olives, the freshness of the lemons, the perfect texture of the fish. All very delicious. Because halibut can be a bit of a splurge with the cost, this can also be made with cod or any thicker cut white fish. Definitely give it a go.
Amother bit of bounty from my weekend in Maine: Chanterelle, Gruyère and Thyme Tart with mushrooms that I foraged in the woods myself. Let me start with this disclaimer: If you do not know your wild mushrooms, please don’t go foraging; just buy them in the shops. Even if you know your mushrooms, please be exceptionally careful. I have been “mushroom hunting” with my father since I was a toddler and even I prefer to have a second set of eyes on them.
All that said, this is an absolutely delicious tart and very simple to make. In theory, you could also use straight up crimini from the shops, but the chanterelles have a lovely peppery bite to them. Lunch to wrap up the week.