Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup, and Some Beautiful Women!

In the world I live in, there are two groups of people: my friends and family, and then everyone else.

And I am always looking for ways to add people to the former. Food is usually a pretty good way.

I love cooking (who starts a food blog without that element?) but I'll let you in on a dirty secret: I hate cooking for myself. When I have to cook for one, the thought of all those dishes usually leads me to default to my juicer (to get my veggies in) and a bowl of cereal. I grocery shop maybe every 10 days (although I ran out of food at day six) and contemplate take-out nightly, although I can't afford it. I'm super awesome!

But really, even for those of us who like to cook, love it even, at the end of the day a large portion of the enjoyment comes from all the people making the yummy noises. In part that's why I started this blog; to share my cooking adventures with invisible internet friends (who I can pretend are making yummy noises, even if they aren't for real).

I have a truly lovely friend, Kate, who loves soup. Really loves it. Contemplated joining the Navy when she found out they break every morning at 10 for soup (seriously). Recently Kate suggested to a group of her friends the idea of a "soup exchange" - think cookie exchange, but better for your waistline. And for all the reasons above, not least of all the increase in people I can call friends, I thought it was a fantastic idea.

All the women in our group made enough soup to give away one litre per person. That's a lot of soup! I thought it would be a great way to share some of my cooking, and get a huge amount of food to eat until Hubby comes home so I don't have to do any more chopping!! (And I write this while enjoying a delicious bowl of Jamaican spinach soup)

You're looking at 81 litres of soup. No joke.

I got a lot more out of the deal though. I got to share the evening (and wine!) with some lovely ladies, learn about their lives and why this exchange was a good idea for them, and understand why they are important parts of Kate's life. All in all, a very successful evening.

The soup I brought along to our exchange was a Thai coconut shrimp. This recipe is really versatile, because you can sub in pretty much any veggies that tickle your particular fancy. I used butternut squash for the fall, but it's equally good with red bell pepper (although I'd only use about 1/2 cup so the pepper flavour doesn't overpower). You can garnish with cilantro, if you like that kind of thing (I don't), or chives, or nothing. The shrimp can easily be exchanged for chicken with a little more cooking time, or left out completely for an equally hearty vegetarian dish.

Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup

Yield: 2L (at least 4-5 servings, depending who you're feeding)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp red curry paste

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1” piece of ginger, finely chopped or grated

1 can coconut milk

3 ¼ cups vegetable/chicken broth

8 oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped roughly

1 cup chopped butternut squash

1 cup chopped sugar snap peas

1 cup corn (frozen or fresh)

½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed

12 oz uncooked shrimp

1 tbsp lime juice (about 1/2 lime)

1 tbsp fish sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped cilantro or chives (optional, for serving)

Directions:

1.       Heat a soup pot or dutch oven over med-high heat; sear curry paste for about one minute.

2.       Add garlic and ginger with just enough of the coconut milk to loosen everything, and cook for

              another minute, until fragrant.

3.       Add remaining coconut milk and broth; stir and bring to a boil.

4.       Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer and add quinoa and butternut squash; cover and cook 10

              minutes.

5.       Add remaining veggies and simmer another 5 minutes.

6.       Add shrimp (and cilantro/chives, if using) and simmer until they are just opaque, 2-3 minutes.

7.       Remove from heat and stir in fish sauce and lime juice. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. If

              too tart for your taste, add about 1 tbsp honey and taste again.

8.       Serve with additional lime wedges and and cilantro/chives to garnish.