Crabby Day Soup

Another Tuesday, another morning at the doc's office. This time I left with far less needle sticks, so I was in a much better mood than last week, but still feeling the sting. I dropped off my prescriptions at the Target by my house and figured I may as well pick up milk and cooking spray there, rather than run out somewhere else. I also picked up a foil packet of crab meat, which I'd never noticed anywhere before, figuring that I could throw something together with it to make lunch. The weather here is dreary to say the least right now, so on the way home I decided to make soup. It's great weather for it right now, chilly and rainy and the kind of day best spent curled up with a blanket and a book. A perfect day for a soup lunch. When I got home I found my roommate's sister in the middle of removing some of her furniture from the house, so once all the hustle and bustle was over with I was more than ready to settle down with a bowl. I've been craving chowder for a few days, so potatoes were the first obvious ingredient. I had some corn from trader joe's, which is always a good pairing with crab and a bunch of asparagus as well. Everything was chopped and drained and thrown into a pot and out came a pretty decent soup, if I do say so myself. I wanted it a little lighter than a cream-based chowder, so this one is thickened a bit with some smashed up potato and finished with a little milk. I made mine with a little bit of a kick to it, but if you're making it and planning on sharing it, you may be better off just spiking your bowl with pepper sauce instead of the whole pot. I would LOVE to have some crackers with this, but the gluten-free cornbread my mom picked up was alright. Regular cornbread would go well, as would toast or crusty bread.

Crab and Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
-3-4 red potatoes of middling size, cubed, enough to make about 2 1/2 cups
-2 1/2 cups water
-2 chicken bouillon cubes or a spoonful of paste bouillon
-1 can of corn, drained or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
-1/3 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut in to 1 inch pieces
-1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-3.5 oz foil pack of crab meat, drained (about 2.5 ounces dry)
-fresh ground black pepper to taste
-1/4 teaspoon pepper sauce
-1 teaspoon butter or butter substitute
-2 tablespoons light cream cheese
-1 cup milk
-Old Bay (optional)

Directions:
Put potatoes, water and bouillon in a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender, about ten minutes or so depending on how small the potatoes are cut. When potatoes are starting to get soft, mash a few chunks against the side of the pot and stir to thicken the broth. Add the asparagus, corn, crab meat, nutmeg, pepper sauce and black pepper and simmer for another 8 minutes or so, until asparagus is cooked to your liking. Stir in the butter and cream cheese, making sure the cream cheese is melted and incorporated. Add the milk and taste for seasoning, adding more pepper sauce, nutmeg or black pepper as desired. Alternately, you could add a little bit of Old Bay seasoning.

Notes:
-This could very easily make a vegetarian corn chowder if you sub vegetarian bouillon for the chicken base and skip the crab meat.
-Don't add lemon to this unless you plan on omitting the milk. I've done it before. It will curdle. It will be too nasty looking to eat.
-You could get the creamy chowder by using things other than milk and butter, such as a dollop of yogurt at the end. However, if you do opt to use yogurt, do NOT add it when the soup is still boiling and don't expect it to reheat well. It can curdle when heated too high, so if you do opt to use yogurt, make the soup and only add yogurt to the portion you'll be eating if you won't be using it all at once. I prefer greek yogurt when doing this, as it's not quite as tangy as some of the other kinds and less overwhelming when mixed into soup.

Life, continued...

So...it's been a very long time since the last post. A lot has happened since then, which some of you know about and some of you don't. Since I find myself suddenly jobless, you'd think I'd have gotten around to posting more. Obviously not. I've also run into the slight problem of having recently discovered that I can't have gluten in my diet, which has thrown a wrench into most of my go-to recipes. I'll still post recipes that contain gluten from time to time, but there will likely be more gluten-free ones than not. As I'm in the process of planning a move, I'm also working my way through my pantry goods, so those are likely to be making more frequent appearances on here as well, starting with the recipe I'm going to post today. I made it for lunch on Tuesday, a day when I was sorely in need of a hug. The abbreviated version involves a fall and accompanying strained ankle and bruised knee, five needle sticks for two blood tests (and another good sized bruise on my right arm from that), a freezing cold house and a general sense that it was only going to get worse, so I may as well make some noodles and hide for the rest of the day. Fortunately, one good thing besides the noodles did happen--my first sale from my etsy store. This also explains why there is suddenly an ad from Etsy on the side of the page here. It links to my store so feel free to poke through if you're so inclined. Other than job hunting, online training, cleaning and figuring out that I'm never going to bother with GF bread again, that's how I'm spending my time these days.


Coconut Noodles

This is one of the easiest recipes I think I've ever made, hands down. It takes as long to make as your noodles take to cook, involves all pantry goods to get started and could be fixed to satisfy a variety of cravings. Original inspiration for this came from here but I've altered proportions quite a bit and eliminated things I either did not have or just forgot to add.

Ingredients:
-One 16 oz or two 8 oz packages of rice noodles (not flake noodles or thin strands)--see Notes
-1 can coconut milk (13 oz or so)
-4 Tbsp tomato paste
-1 tsp chili powder
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 pound cubed chicken breast or one block of tofu, cubed
-3 or so green onions sliced thin (on the bias looks prettier)

Optional:
-chopped cilantro or basil
-lime juice
-flaked coconut, plain or toasted
-chili sauce or chili paste
-thin sliced red pepper strips
-ground peanuts
-finely shredded kaffir lime leaves (available in freezer sections of international markets and online)
-diced banana (don't knock it til you've tried it once)

Directions:
-Cook your rice noodles according to package directions and make the sauce while they are cooking. When they've reached the desired consistency, drain the noodles and rinse with cold water, picking up handfuls and making sure all noodles are separated.
-In a good sized saucepan combine coconut milk, tomato paste, chili powder, salt and chili sauce, if using (start with 1/4 teaspoon and add more later if needed). Bring to a boil over medium heat.
-When sauce is boiling, add chicken or tofu and toss to coat and reduce heat for 8-10 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Add lime juice, if using. Taste sauce and adjust for seasoning.
-To assemble, toss noodles with sauce to coat. Sprinkle with green onions, cilantro/basil, coconut and/or pepper strips, if using.
-8 oz rice noodles will yield 3 or 4 servings, in theory. In practice, you'll probably want twice that.


Notes:
-Rice noodles--Make whatever amount you need for immediate use. The sauce will keep well in the fridge for a few days, but the rice noodles do not like being re-heated, or more specifically, really do not like being refrigerated, as it changes their texture for the worse. Reheating will soften them back up, but they will be brittle and will break up. This doesn't affect taste much, but the whole dish is much better if it's avoided. I found that the one can of coconut milk makes enough sauce for a full 16 ounce package of noodles, albeit not to coat very thickly. If you like a lot of sauce on your noodles, plan to use it with 8-12 ounces instead.
-Variations are endless. Sub some curry paste for the chili powder (red or penang is particularly good), but if you do, start with 1/2 teaspoon and work your way up, as they are far spicier than straight chili powder. If you do use penang, melt a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter into the sauce as well and definitely use the lime leaves if you have any.
-Add ins and equally endless. You could use some peeled and deveined shrimp if you use green curry paste instead of chicken and chili powder. You can fry the tofu for more texture, or use more vegetables. Just about anything that would work in a thai curry sauce will fit the bill here, so add whatever you want to. With this recipe, whatever tastes good should go in. Here are some variations I plan on trying:
penang paste/chicken/red pepper/snow peas
yellow paste/tofu/banana/raisins/peanuts/lime leaves
green paste/shrimp/peppers
peanut butter/lime juice/tamarind paste/chicken/peanuts/cucumber/pepper strips/snow peas/bean sprouts
-Do not in anyway think that this is health food. Mental health food maybe, but that's about it. It is moderately redeemed by the rice noodles not being fried, but that's countered by the coconut milk. It's certainly not going to kill you, but it's probably not the best idea to eat it daily.
-If you do bulk up the veggies, particularly if you're adding a huge amount of bean sprouts, budget the sauce back to the 8oz of noodles to be safe, and assemble your whole bowl at once.
-This is best served alone or with someone you don't mind being a bit messy around. An ideal accompaniment is a rainy or cold afternoon or evening and a showing of When Harry Met Sally or something equivalent.