Easy Coconut Seafood Curry Soup

One of the real pluses to working from home, aside from having the critters with me all day and wearing pajamas yoga pants every day whenever I want, is being able to cook whatever I feel like for lunch if I have the ingredients on hand. Today I started thinking about seafood. After a bit of rummaging around in the freezer, I found the last bag of mixed seafood. I buy the huge bag from Costco and then divide it in to smaller portions that are easier to store in my freezer. Also in the freezer were some individually wrapped portions of cod, some frozen homemade chicken stock and a bag of stir fry vegetables. From the pantry came a can of lite coconut milk, cloves of garlic and an onion, from the refrigerator came half a can of mushrooms that were leftover from last night, a quarter of a tomato, half an orange bell pepper, and red curry paste. (Note: When I was done cooking, I added a splash of rice vinegar, soy sauce, a squeeze of lime and snipped in some Thai basil that is growing in my aero garden)

Since I am all about the gadgets, I pulled out my Instant Pot (don't tell the Cuisinart PC that I brought this back from the ranch) and set it to saute and drizzled in a little oil. While it was heating up, I thawed the chicken stock in the microwave and sliced up  half of an onion in to half moons (lengthwise strips). In to the cooker they went to soften. Next, I sliced the pepper in to thin strips, sliced the garlic, and tossed them in to cook. I had a good rounded spoonful of curry paste left in my jar, so I spooned it in, stirring it in to the veggies. I cancelled the saute mode, and literally dumped in my frozen stir fry veggies, the mushrooms and tomato, the frozen seafood mix (there was about two cups worth in my bag), two frozen cod fillets, 1 cup and a half of chicken stock and the can of coconut milk. I closed the lid to the IP, set it to high pressure for 5 minutes and walked away. In hindsight, I could have done a little less time, but the fish fillets were thick and I wanted to make sure they were cooked through.

Here it is just before closing the pot. It could have been an epic failure. Since I don't often use recipe, I just never know if something will turn out as well as I think it will. For the most part they do, but cooking with a pressure cooker adds a level of unknown if I've never made something before.

When I was releasing the steam I could smell the aroma of seafood, and it smelled good. Fingers were crossed. There was some splatter on the inside of the pot, but the soup looked great. The fish was cooked beautifully, and so was the calamari. Shrimp are easy to over cook, but I didn't mind so much since they were small. The frozen veggies were soft, but that was to be expected, and helped make the soup soft and soothing. Since shrimp can be salty, I didn't add any salt in the beginning. I tasted the soup, added a splash of soy sauce, a splash of rice vinegar, a squeeze of lime juice (I couldn't find my TrueLime because it was sitting on my desk next to my water glass), and snipped in some Thai basil leaves. I am so please with how this turned out. If you were cooking on the stove, you could add the shrimp last so they aren't over cooked, but I just wanted to see how it would turn out if I basically dumped everything in and set it to cook. It didn't disappoint.

Beef. It's not what's for dinner...

Chicken. It's something I'm pretty much always going to have in the freezer. Diced tomatoes. Something I'm always going to have in the pantry. Put them together and viola. Dinner. I had a meeting for the community garden on Wednesday night and I needed something that could sit on the stove and simmer away. I did chicken curry last week, so trying out a recipe for Country Captain chicken wouldn't work. Sour cream. Something I occasionally have in the refrigerator. I was in luck. Chicken paprika it is...


If you read my recipes you may have noticed that I always use chicken thighs. This is what we like to eat, but feel free to substitute a cut up chicken.



Chicken Paprika (serves 4)

4 chicken thighs
1 medium onion diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 t sweet paprika
1 t smoked paprika
1 t hot paprika
1/2 c. reduced fat sour cream (This is as low as I'll go. Fat free is icky.)
salt/pepper


Heat large heavy pan over medium high heat. Salt and pepper chicken pieces on both sides. When pan is very hot, place the chicken skin side down in the pan. Let brown for several minutes. The skin will lift up from the pan surface when it's done enough. Don't pull the pieces up or they'll tear apart.



Meanwhile, back at stately Wayne Manor, I mean my kitchen, pull out the trusty sidekicks. The cutting board (I have one for meats and one for veggies) and a nice sharp knife.

Dice the onion and crush the garlic cloves. Traditional chicken paprika recipes don't call for garlic, but I think pretty much all chicken dishes should have garlic in them.

Turn the chicken pieces over and brown on the other side for several minutes.

When the second side of the chicken is nicely browned remove the chicken from the pan. If there's a lot of fat drain it out and leave a tablespoon or so in the pan.

Dump in the onions and the garlic. Make sure you scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. There's a lot of flavor in those little morsels. Cook the onions until they're translucent.

The hot and smoked paprika really make this dish. If you don't have any smoked paprika, I really think you should get some. It's crazy good.

I had a picture of just the paprika in the pan, but it kept uploading sideways. Imagine I've put the paprika in the pan, stirred it around to blend with the onions and garlic. Now put in your can of diced tomatoes.

Stir well, and then place the chicken pieces back in the pan, nestling them in the sauce.

Simmer for about 40 minutes or until the chicken is done. Take the chicken back out and add in the sour cream.

Stir well until all the sour cream is blended into the sauce.

Serve with noodles and green peas.

Nutrition for chicken, 1/2 cup noodles and 1/2 cup peas:

Calories: 482

Total fat: 23.9 g

Carbs: 39.2 g

Protein: 27.8 g

(Nutrition data comes from the GoWearFit recipe builder)

For the second part of this double feature, a couple of people asked for the recipe for the scallops I made the other day. It's my take on Coquilles St. Jacques A La Pariesienne. Here it is...

Scallops in Artichoke Mushroom Cream Sauce

1 lb large scallops

1 can quartered artichoke hearts

1 lb white mushrooms, sliced

1 cup dry white wine

salt

pepper

bay leaf

1 small shallot, diced (I had small green onion from garden I used)

1 t herbes de provence

1 T butter

2 T flour

1/2 c. cream

In large pan simmer the wine and the herbs for a few minutes. Add the scallops and mushrooms to the wine. Add enough water to just cover the scallops. Poach until done. (I wasn't timing, sorry)

In second pan, over medium heat, melt the butter and stir in the flour until smooth. Cook for a couple of minutes, until the flour is lightly golden. Reduce heat and add about 1/2 cup of the poaching liquid and stir, making sure there are no lumps. If it's too thick, add more of the poaching liquid. Stir in the cream. Add the artichokes, mushrooms and scallops and stir until everything's coated with the sauce.

Serve over spaghetti or rice. I served this over spaghetti, with a layer of steamed spinach in between. I'm sorry I don't have the nutrition data for this recipe. For some reason, the GWF website doesn't want to let me into my account. Check back with me on this if you like.