Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup with Thai Pesto

Another recipe from the root veggie section of my new cook book. This one is really simple to make, it's basically combining everything together and blending. I think the hardest part is getting all the different things to make the pesto!

Ingredients (Soup):
1 - Tbsp Olive Oil
2 - Large Sweet Potatoes, peeled, chunked
1 - Red Onion, chopped
1 - Tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste
2 - Cups Vegetable Stock
2 - Cups Coconut Milk

Ingredients (Thai Pesto):
2/3 - Cup Peanuts, lightly toasted (or normal store bought)
2 - Cloves Garlic, Chopped
2 - Tsp grated ginger (or powered ginger)
2 - Chiles, seeded and chopped
Small bunch of Cilantro
Large handful of Basil
2 - Tbsp soy sauce
2 - Tbsp lime juice
1 - Tbsp brown sugar




Directions (Soup):
Chop the potatoes into chunks.



In a heavy sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the sweet potato and onion, partially cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes soften, while stirring often.

The potatoes should look a little brown at this point. Increase the heat to high, add the curry paste and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the Coconut milk.

Add the stock.

Bring to a boil while stirring.

Transfer to a Blender and blend until smooth.

Directions (Pesto):
Put all the ingredients in a food processor (don't use a Ninja blender like I did).

Process until you have a chunky green paste (again if you use a Ninja blender it blends too much and looks all brown...)

Transfer the pesto to a contain as not all it will be needed for the soup (It looks really... brown... but it tastes really good and you can use the leftover pesto over pasta).

Ladle soup into bowl, float the pesto on top of the soup and garnish with Cilantro,



I was really surprised with this soup. On there own they are both good and together they work great! Enjoy :)

Indian Potato Curry with Toor dhal on rice w/ Chicken

I was in Chapters over my lunch hour last week checking out some different books when I passed by the cook book section. Normally I just search for recipes online but there were a number of books on sale for $10. I was mostly interested in the books that had root vegetables in them as it's hard to come up with different ideas for potatoes and beets, and I always end up just making the same things. From this book comes tonight recipe for "Indian Potato Curry with Toor dhal". I added the chicken :)

This one was a little weird for me as it's the first recipe that I've made in the longest time that didn't call for me to saute onions first. I love to saute onions by the way!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 - Cups of Yellow Lentils (I only had green and all the grocery stores were closed because it was a holiday)

3 - Tbsp Vegetable Oil

1/2 - Tsp Mustard Seeds

1/2 - Tsp Fenugreek Seeds

1 - Tsp grated Ginger

1 - Tsp crushed Garlic

1 - Tsp Chili Powder

1 1/2 - Tsp Coriander

1/2 - Tsp ground Turmeric

4 - Tomatoes, skinned and chopped

1 - Tsp Salt

1 1/2 - lbs Potatoes cut into 1-inch pieces

Ingredients to Serve:

2 Tbsp - Freshly chopped Cilantro

1/2 Tsp - Garam Masala

Basmati Rice

Chicken

Directions:

Wash the lentils well in several changes of water. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the mustard and fenugreek seeds.

When they begin to pop, stir in the ginger and garlic, and fry for 30 seconds.

Add the chili power, ground coriander, turmeric and fry for another 30 seconds.







Add the tomatoes and lentils, cover with 2 1/2 cups of water, add salt and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft
 

Add the Potatoes and simmer over low heat for another 10 - 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Sprinkled with chopped cilantro, Garam Masala. put over top of Basmati Rice

It tasted okay but I wanted something more. I ended up topping it with Chicken and Tamarind Sauce for some added flavor!

Zucchini Boats

I was positive that I posted the recipe for these before but I can't seem to find it anywhere so I'm going to post it now. Zucchini Boats. These are a pretty healthy side dish that is pretty to make and because I generally load them with cheese, the kids don't mind eating them ;)



Ingredients:
3 - Zucchini (Green or Yellow)
1/2 - Quart of Cherry Tomatoes
1/4 - Cup of Bread Crumbs
1/2 - Cup of Shredded Cheese (Mozzarella or Cheddar)
3 - Cloves of Garlic minced
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the 3 zucchini in half, lengthwise

Trim a little bit off the bottom of the zucchini (this will allow it to sit still on a baking sheet).

Using a spoon, scoop the seeds out of the inside of the zucchini and discard.

Mix together the minced garlic and olive oil. Brush liberally into the scooped out section of the zucchini and then grind salt and pepper over top.

Arrange halved grape tomatoes into the grooves, sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake in oven (350 degrees) for about 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and add shredded cheese on top. Place them back into the oven but now under broiler until golden and bubbling (3 - 5 minutes).

Remove from oven, cut into pieces and enjoy :)

Twice Baked Cauliflower

Updated 2015/2/27

There is no shortage of recipes on the internet and today while browsing around I saw one for Twice Baked Cauliflower. What really grabbed my attention is how it looked. The golden browness of it after being broiled in the oven is what made me want to try it. I've done a couple of Cauliflower flower recipes before and they've all turned out really good. (see Cauliflower Pizza).

After a quick look at the ingredients I figured I only need Cauliflower so I stopped and picked it up on the way home from work. Once I started pulling everything out to make this recipe I found out that I was short more than 1 ingredient.... oh well it happens and this is my attempt at Twice Baked Cauliflower without all the ingredients :)

(First Attempt)

(Second Attempt - With Cheese Broiled on top)

Ingredients:
1 - Head of Cauliflower cut into small pieces
1/2 - Cup of Milk Greek Yogurt
1 1/2 - Cups of Monterery Jack Cheese (or Mozzarella)
1 - Cloves of Garlic (any more and it has too much of a garlic flavor)
1 - Green Onion chopped

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
In batches, process Cauliflower in a food processor and put into a large bowl.

Add Milk, Yogurt, Cheese, Green Onion and Garlic to the bowl of processed Cauliflower. Mix ingredients well.

Transfer to a greased baking dish

Place in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. When 20 minutes has passed switch to broiler mode and broil for 5 minutes to get the golden brown top (mine didn't really get as golden brown as I would have liked but it was better than nothing)

(Original Attempt - no cheese on top)

(Second attempt with cheese on top! about a 1 cup)

Plate and serve!

For anyone who is interested, here is a list of the ingredients I was missing and what I did to work around it.

Cheddar Cheese -> I didn't have any, which is unusual for me and I wanted something with more flavor than Mozzarella so I went with Monterery Jack Instead.

Chives -> I have a ton of these in the garden but it's winter here so... Green onion is a good substitute

Yogurt -> I normally have Greek Yogurt in the fridge but not today

Sour Cream -> Another product I though I had but didn't. At this point I knew I needed something to give the mixture more moisture and that's why I went with the milk. For my second attempt I when with Greek Yogurt and it made a huge difference!

Bacon Bits -> I was just lazy and didn't want to cook up any bacon

I missed the whole tips section about using olive oil and and Parmesan cheese to help get it that golden brown. oh well, live and learn!