Y’all, I was afraid I might have forgotten my password to get in here to post. Or that WordPress might have changed everything around so much I couldn’t figure out where to go. But, happily, though they have changed up some stuff for sure, I think I can still figure it out.
We had a “snow” cancellation of school for the umpty-zillionteenth time today. I am fine to cancel school when there are actual dangerous road conditions, but there has been rather less of that and rather more concern about the possibility of dangerous conditions developing at some point. Blah. I’ve written about my feelings on the topic before. If you’ve forgotten, or weren’t around, or simply wish to revisit my incisive and witty prose, that would be a click here. Or maybe here.
Anyhoo. After I got done driving Megs to and from her piano lesson on roads just the merest bit damp, she settled in with a friend and I settled in to dinner prep. Sometimes lately I get a wee smidge distracted by the computer — emails to answer or research to be done or a particularly engaging TedX, say — and it might be 7 or so when I hear the MPM about to wander downstairs from his office, causing me to leap back into action at the cutting board. But tonight I had everything well in hand by 6:15.
I’ve made this dish now three or four times, and this time I didn’t deviate really at all from the notes of the previous time, so it occurred to me that it’s reached the pinnacle of Post-Worthy.
The “post” part being rather more astonishing than the “pinnacle” part, in case you hadn’t noticed my absence lo this last half-year. Er-hemm.
I’m at a bit of a loss for what to call this recipe, since it’s one I mostly made up all on my own. Maybe I should just call it Post-Worthy Soup. And for anyone who remembers my ongoing flirtation with a paleo diet, yep, it’s paleo-friendly. And almost righteously healthy, really.
Post-Worthy Soup, or A Righteously Delish Thai Fish Stew
What you need:
- olive oil
- butter or ghee
- 1 bulb fennel, chopped bite-size
- 1 onion, chopped
- 6oz shell-on shrimp
- 3c chicken broth
- 1c or so diced tomatoes with their juice
- 1/2 can coconut milk, the real stuff and not the “light”
- 2 links andouille or other spicy sausage, sliced in 1/4″ rounds
- 3c cauliflower florets
- 1# white fish – tilapia or catfish perhaps
- 3c napa cabbage, chopped
- 1T red chili paste (I use Thai Kitchen)
- 1t thyme
- bay leaf
- splash lime juice
- generous half-teaspoon of Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning (no kitchen should be without)
What you should do with it:
Preheat to 375, preparatory to roasting on parchment paper the fennel, tossed with 1 tsp olive oil.
While the roasting is going on, about 12min, peel the shrimp and toss the peels – just the peels, not the shrimps themselves – in with 2 C water. Bring to a simmer.
And while the simmering and roasting are doing what they need to, saute in a good pot or dutch oven:
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
diced onion
sausage rounds
When the onion is translucent and the sausage slightly browned, add your chicken broth. Place a strainer over the dutch oven to catch the shells and pour the shrimp stock right in. Then add the tomatoes and the cauliflower florets.
Simmer 8min or so and add the fish and the napa cabbage. When the cabbage is still crisp but heading toward tender, add the shrimp and simmer 3 more minutes. Promptly ladle up and enjoy. I can assure you we did.
fraught 