Green is fresh, green is hope, green is a color I love (in case you did not notice). Enough to convince me! (Can you really answer this question: what is your favorite color?)
A few days ago, I came across a funny post on Gerald’s blog (from Foodite ). Gerald comes up with these funny challenges which make me crack up. First he was trying to master the macaroon baking, then came Knocking On My Own Door.
Knock, knock, y’a quelqu’un ? (Anyone there?)
Not fully respecting the rules, I still followed Gerald’s idea : make a leftover meal, that is, using whatever you have in your fridge to make dinner. No one knocked on my door so Iron Chef, here I am , I am him! Why this challenge all of a sudden? We have to empty our fridge before our 3 week trip away. So everything has to go!
Confession to be made: the task was not so difficult. I was not cooking oxtail, or a live eel or trout. My shrimps were well dead and frozen (quelle horreur!) and really, I had enough to come up with something I am accostumed to cooking. I still used my imagination. Maybe a mini Iron Chef show? Ah well, I can cheat, can’t I?
In my fridge, I had a few Thai eggplants left from another curry I had made and 2 small zucchinis. I had frozen Maine shrimps (I always do freeze those little goodies because the season is short and I love them, so I need to make sure I can fulfill the craving to make quik stirfries or brunches with them) along with frozen fresh pasta bought as emergency food. I also had a can of coconut milk (always have a stock of them), a few leaves of Thai Basil, 2 or 3 leftover Kaffir Lime leaves, a few limes. As to the other ingredients such as fish sauce or green curry paste, they belong to my classics, handy to have (I do cook a lot Asian foods, so I have a wide variety of those ingredients that keep well).
Hence, I made a Green Curry Shrimp sauce served with yes yes, tagliatelles. Ecclectic, I know, but you do what tastes good to you. So here you go! Just for the fun!
You need:
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- 2 julienned zucchinis
- 10 small Thai eggplants
- 1 tsp green curry paste
- 1 large tbsp peanut oil
- 1 lb Maine Shrimps (small)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 Kaffir lime leaves shredded or julienned
- Fresh Thai Basil leaves
Steps:
- Start by heating a large wok or saute pan. Add the peanut oil and when hot, cook the green curry paste for a few mns, until fragrant.
- Add the coconut milk and stock, the julienned kaffir lime leaves and cook for 5 mns
- Add the julienned zucchinis and eggplants and cook for 10 to 15 mns, simmering.
- Add the fish sauce, the shrimps and cook for a few mns, then add the lime juice and the Thai basil leaves.
- Serve with whatever you fancy, rice, quinoa, pasta. It might sound odd but I cooked 3-vegetable tagliatelles with this dish and we loved it. The second day, the sauce was even better. C’est encore meilleur réchauffé!
This recipe is definitely for 6 servings!
Not much more left in my fridge now, although tomorrow, I will present an avocado recipe I made a week ago, the entry to summer greens! A demain!
PS on Maine shrimps: See here for more info, as suggested on Stephencooks. When I come back from my trip, I am really intending to make this great recipe: Flounder and Maine Shrimp Roulades in Polenta Cups. When I first discovered this blog, I knew I would come back very often. *So* many comforty foods, just the type I like!
What a great way to use up the foods in your refrig! Looks great!
excellent, bea! beautiful and appetizing!
my favourite color is the color of food! 🙂 I really answered there! 😀 I really love this combination of east and west, always great pictures as well :*
Great pic’ s and wonderful recipe!!!
I love it… 🙂
See you soon Bea
What a fun recipe! I love your eclectic sensibility. Very creative! ~k
I love green curry anything and what a fabulous way to use up leftovers. I am in the same boat as you. I need to get rid of a lot of leftovers … but it never seems to run out!
mmmm! Béa. that looks delicious – and isn’t that SO true: C’est encore meilleur réchauffé! Hey, aussi, vous faisez des belles photos! Les canards dans l’autre post – incroyable! It’s my first time visiting and i will be back!
Yum. And we must be having some weird synchronicities going on, because I just posted my green curry recipe (with beef). 🙂
I’ve always been a bit intimidated by the thought of making green curry at home, but you make it sound so very easy. I’ll bet it made your kitchen smell magical and exotic, too!
Bea, if I lived next to you I’d just beg to have the perishables that were in your fridge. Thai eggplants, zucchinis, maine shrimps??? That’s not a fridge, that’s a gourmet market!! 😉
Thanks all for your comments. I guess yes, I am not “usual” with the kind of leftovers in the fridge. I suppose it comes from the fact I never let it become dramatic. If I had had more time and ingredients, I would however have made my curry paste, like Lara did ;-). Next time!
Thanks again for stopping by!
Your pics are so appetizing Bea! The colors are fantastic!
I love your blog. I’ve been here a few times already and thought I would see if you had a shrimp recipe. I just recently posted a recipe that I adapted from “The Spended Table” cookbook and posted it on my blog @ http://cookingquest.wordpress.com if you would like to come take a look. I love feedback and other cooks opinions for sure.
Thanks and have a great one!
Joe