lime

grilled shrimp tacos

I think that it’s officially safe to the warm weather is here to stay!

This spring has been all over the place when it comes to the weather. One day it’s sunny & gorgeous, and the next day it’s grey & freezing. It’s a very hard life we lead here in Brooklyn.

I actually made these tacos two or three weeks ago, but the very next day the weather took a turn and I felt weird posting them when it was so chilly outside.
The day I made them was absolutely gorgeous though, and Russell and I had the day to ourselves to wander Brooklyn and frolic in the sunshine.

So frolic we did.

We walked into Williamsburg and found a cute little place to have brunch, and afterward we went to a local nursery and got some new plants for the yard. It was still pretty early in the season so they didn’t have a huge selection, and our yard has the perfect combination of total shade, no hose hook-up, and super dry crappy soil; so we have to be careful about what we plant. About 60% of what I experiment with back there doesn’t make it through the first year, but we’re hoping the pachysandra we picked up will be hardy enough to survive our humble little wasteland.
So… fingers crossed!
After that we stopped by an old family fish market to get some shrimp to grill for dinner.

When Russell makes fish tacos he usually makes a quick sauce with plain greek yogurt and sriracha, but this time I wanted to try something fun and a little different. I made a quick cilantro pesto to marinate the shrimp, and then made a jalapeño crema to add some creamy zip.

Both these sauces are super simple and easy to make if you have a food processor, so don’t be intimidated that you have to make two sauces. I also recommend skewering the shrimp to make them easier to flip on the grill and make sure they don’t fall through into the fire, but if you don’t have skewers it’s not impossible to grill the shrimp without them.

My playing around really paid off. The shrimp came out tender, smoky, herby, tangy and perfect. Grilling them over a charcoal fire rather than gas definitely adds a lot of extra smokiness, but if you have a gas grill you can add a smoke box with wood chips to replicate the same flavor.

The bright fresh red cabbage adds a really nice crunch, and the jalapeño crema adds a welcome creaminess with a hint of spice. Mine actually wasn’t very spicy at all, but that will depend on your jalapeños. A nice squeeze of bright fresh lime juice and you’re in shrimp taco heaven!

grilled shrimp tacos with cilantro pesto

Servings: 2 to 4
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3 cloves garlic
2 cups fresh cilantro, lightly packed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
1/2 cup sour cream or Mexican crema
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
2 seeded jalapeños
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded red cabbage
corn tortillas
1 lime cut into wedges

To make the cilantro pesto combine garlic, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, salt, & pepper in a food processor and process until completely smooth. Transfer to a large bowl with shrimp and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or two, or overnight.
Clean the food processor and make the crema. Combine the sour cream or crema, lime juice, salt, and jalapeño and process until completely smooth.

I recommend using skewers to make the shrimp easier to flip and keep them from falling into the grill. If using wooden skewers make sure to soak them in water for an hour before use so they don’t burn up.

Add 5 or 6 shrimp to each skewer and try to leave as much of the pesto on them as possible. Grill the shrimp over a medium to high flame until just cooked through, flipping once. This should only take 3 or 4 minutes per side but that will depend on the heat in your grill. Warm your tortillas over the grill too, just until soft and warm, about a minute per side.

Assemble the tacos with two to three shrimp each, a sprinkle of shredded cabbage, a drizzle of crema, and a squeeze of fresh lime.

graham cracker bundt cake with key lime cheesecake swirl #bundtbakers

I’m sorry, but I really hate the phrase, “made it by the skin of my teeth”

A) Seriously, how gross is that?
B) What the heck does that even mean? Teeth don’t have skin.
Unless we’re talking about gums here, in which case, that’s even weirder/grosser/more nonsensical.

Anyway, even though I don’t like or understand that saying, in this case it’s true. I made it. Just in the nick of time.

If you’ve been paying attention, you already know that my oven has been broken (along with my heart). My landlord, in tandem with Brooklyn’s slowest appliance repair company, have been taking their sweeeeeeet time fixing it.

As difficult as going oven-less has been for me, my biggest concern through this whole agonizing experience has been that I might not be able to bake along with the bundt bakers this month. It may have been painful to have cookies taken off the menu and chicken taken out of the oven and put on the back burner (literally), but DO NOT mess with my bundts. I’ve baked a bundt cake each and every month since I found this rag-tag (though truly well organized) team of bakers, and having to bow out because of an ancient apartment oven and a foot-dragging repairman was seriously bumming me out.

Luckily the repair man pulled through at the eleventh hour. On Monday he came through with the backordered fuse in hand and within an hour my baby was back in working order. I was at work at the time, but Russell was filling me in from home and once the oven was purring again we were sending jubilant texts back and forth for the rest of the day. I was like a giddy school girl. 16 days with no oven can do that to a guy.

With no time to spare, I assembled the ingredients for my cake and set to work. The lovely Anshie of Spice Roots is our group’s host this month, and she chose “Hidden Surprise” as our theme (which is appropriate, because my ability to even make this cake was a total surprise!).
The idea was to bake a cake with a filling or ingredient inside that isn’t visible until it’s sliced. From the outside it looks like any ordinary cake, but once sliced a whole universe of delicious is revealed.

At first I was having a really difficult time deciding what to do with this theme. My mind immediately went toward berries and chocolate, but in my experience berries always want to sink through the batter and settle into what, once un-molded, is the top of the cake. That wouldn’t really be much of a surprise would it? I pawed at a few other ideas in my head but nothing really seemed to take.

That all changed about two weeks ago when I caught a nasty bug and couldn’t get off the couch for a few days.

When I was growing up, my grandmother always prescribed the same “medicine” whenever I was sick. The patient always needed canned chicken noodle soup, plain vanilla ice cream, warm ginger ale, and graham crackers. Now that I’m older the chicken soup seems to make sense, but the vanilla ice cream just seems like a bad idea. I don’t really get the warm part of the ginger ale, but I guess the lack of ice was supposed to be easier on the stomach, and I suppose graham crackers are easy on an upset tummy too.
To this day, whenever I get sick, I always crave these things. Once I was well enough to actually eat, I went through an entire box of graham crackers in like two days. All that was left was a small trail of graham cracker crumbs.

That’s when it hit me, what if I made a cake using crushed graham cracker crumbs in place of some of the flour?
And what better flavor to pair with graham cracker crumbs than key lime pie?
Better yet, key lime CHEESECAKE!!!

Surprise!

I can’t accurately describe how amazing this cake is. Words like moist, tender, flavorful, warm, & homey come to mind to describe the graham cracker cake, but really don’t do it justice. This cake is out of this world. Why hasn’t this been done before? If it has, why haven’t I been informed? Graham cracker cake, filling or not, is something I’d like to be buried with. Hillary should choose graham cracker cake as her running mate. Seriously. Clinton/ Graham Cracker Cake/ 2016.

I could have paired this cake with any number of fillings and knocked it out of the park. Chocolate and marshmallow “S’mores” cake would have been amazing, but KEY LIME CHEESECAKE was a real stroke of genius. Seriously, out of this world. I want to use words like tangy, rich, creamy, silky, & decadent; but like I said, words cannot describe the otherworldly levels of deliciousness happening inside this cake.

Go make this. Now.
(you can thank me later)

Graham Cracker Bundt Cake with Key Lime Cheesecake Swirl

Servings: 12 to 16-ish
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Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
pinch of salt
1 large egg
4 tablespoons key lime juice
finely grated zest of 1 lime

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for pan)
1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs (plus more for topping)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks, plus more for pan)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons key lime juice
pinch of salt
1 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 and move the rack to the center position. Generously butter and flour a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan. Tap out extra flour and refrigerate.

To make the filling; cream sugar, softened cream cheese, and salt together in a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer) on high speed. Beat until fluffy and completely free of lumps, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add egg, and mix to combine. Add lime juice and zest and mix to combine. Scrape filling out into a small bowl and set aside. Wash bowl or at least scrape it out well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt. Set aside. In the same bowl as before, cream the butter with sugars on high speed until pale, light, & fluffy; about 4 to 5 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating on low to combine after each addition. On low speed, alternate three additions of flour and two additions buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, scraping the bowl between additions. Do not over-mix. Scrape batter out into prepared pan and use your spatula to push the thick batter up the walls of the pan to create a well in the center.
Pour the filling into the center of the well, and use a small icing spatula or butter knife to swirl the filling into the cake batter. Try to avoid scraping the bottom or sides of the pan.
Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before turning out of the pan onto the rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth and lump free. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add lime juice and salt. Beat again until smooth and lump free. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. (I used all 3 tablespoons)

Pour or drizzle glaze evenly over the top of the cake and sprinkle a few tablespoons of graham cracker crumbs over the top.
Cake should keep, tightly covered at room temperature, for about 3 days. If you refrigerate it bring it back up to room temperature before serving.

Are your taste buds ready for a few more delicious surprises? There are a whole lot of tasty secrets hidden within these recipes y’all. Check it out.

Almond Crunch Cake – Magnolia Days
Balsamic Strawberries Bundt Cake – Our Good Life
Banana Maple Bundt Cake with Chocolate Star – Un Mordisco Un Pecado
Black and White Surprise Bundt Cake – Patty’s Cake
Chocolate and Vanilla Polka Dot Bundt – Passion Kneaded
Chocolate Bundt Cake with Oreo Cheesecake Filling – Recipes, Food and Cooking
Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Peanut Butter Bundt Cake – Sew You Think You Can Cook
Citrus Raspberry Bundt – Noshing With The Nolands
Confetti Zebra Cake – Eat, Drink, Be Mighty
Cookie Dough Bundt Cake – Liv for Cake
German Mozarthupf – A Kingdom for a Cake
Graham Cracker Bundt Cake with Key Lime Cheesecake Swirl – Brooklyn Homemaker
KitKat Surprise Bundt Cake –Simply Veggies
Lemon Blueberry Van Halen Bundt – Food Lust People Love
Orange and Strawberry Jam Bundt Cake – Baking Yummies
Pear and Blue Cheese Bundt – Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Polka Dot Bundt Cake – Brunch with Joy
Raspberry Filled Lemon Bundt – A Day in the Life on the Farm
Real Nutella Bundt Cake – Baking in Pyjamas
Savory Monkey Bread Stuffed Bundt – Adventures in All Things Food
Sour Cream Boozy Hazelnut Bundt Cake – Sidewalk Shoes
Spring Break S’mores Cake – Tea and Scones
Strawberry Cheesecake Bundt Cake – Basic N Delicious
Strawberry Twinky Bundt Cake – I Love Bundt Cakes
Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake – Big Rigs ‘n Lil’ Cookies
Surprise Bundt – Mummy & Cute
Surprise Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake – Media Ración Doble, Por Favor
Surprise Inside Carrot Bundt Cake- Making Miracles
Triple Lemon Bundt Cake – Baking and Creating with Avril
Tropical Surprise Bundt Cake – Spice Roots

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Interested in learning more about us? #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.

toasted coconut lime bundt cake with chili lime glaze #bundtbakers

I’ve been in a bit of a funk so far this year, and I think the first BundtBakers of 2015 is just the thing to pull me out of it.

The theme this month, chosen by the amazing Terri of Love and Confections, is Coconut! What better inspiration to get me back into the swing of things than a delicious and versatile tropical fruit? Thank you Terri! I needed that!!!

The first thing that I thought of when I saw this month’s theme was an idea I had last year for a cake that didn’t really pan out the first time around.

The theme in June of last year was “tropical”, and at the time I was going through a bit of an Asian food phase. I thought it could be really fun and interesting to try to translate the savory flavors of tropical southeast asian Thai curry into a sweet bundt cake, so I went to work experimenting. I love Thai coconut curries with lime and ginger, so I used that flavor profile as my inspiration for a bundt with coconut, lime, and ginger as the stars of the show. I also really wanted to see how far I could push the idea of Thai curry in dessert form, so I wanted to use some curry paste too.

Thai curry paste usually consists of things like lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal (a spicy Asian type of ginger), chilies, and spices. If I had an unlimited source of time and money I probably would have made my own paste using these classic Thai ingredients. Although these flavors might be sort of unusual and unexpected in a cake, I think it could have worked out really well.

Without unlimited time and money though, I decided to grab a jar of store-bought Thai green curry paste which, unfortunately, also contains ingredients like shallots and garlic. Needless to say, shallots and garlic don’t really work well in desserts, even if you’re trying to be inventive and avant-garde.

I knew the minute my experimental bundt came out of the oven that something wasn’t right. Despite having only used two teaspoons of curry paste, when I opened the oven door the first thing that hit my nose was garlic. The flavor of the cake wasn’t quite as off as the smell, but that hint of garlic and shallot was still lurking in the background of every bite.

There were a few elements of the cake that worked really well, especially the flavor combination of coconut and lime, and the spicy Thai chili infused lime glaze that I used on top. In the end though, I decided to ditch the idea, and a few days later I came up with a hibiscus lime bundt that was met with rave reviews.

Fast forward to 2015, and I’ve finally found a good reason to revisit that ill-fated Thai curry cake. I decided to forego the curry paste altogether, and I actually skipped the ginger too. I knew that I loved the combination of lime and coconut, so this time I toasted the coconut and paired it with coconut milk and lime zest and juice.

As a nod to the Thai cake, I decided to keep the chili infused lime glaze. Thai bird’s beak chilies are SUPER spicy, so a little goes a long way to add a nice heat to this sweet glaze. I sliced a few chilies in half and steeped them in a combination of lime juice and coconut milk, then I removed the chilies and mixed in some powdered sugar. The resulting glaze actually is quite spicy, but there’s so little glaze in each bite of cake that the heat is barely noticeable.

I’m so glad that I decided to revisit this cake. I took some of it to work with me and let the compliments rain down upon me. I’m actually TERRIBLE at receiving compliments, unless they’re food related. “Moist!”, “Delicious!”, “Bursting with flavor!”. Keep ’em coming folks!

The toasted coconut and coconut milk take center stage in this moist, delicious, bursting-with-flavor cake; and the lime juice and zest help to brighten things up and emphasize the tropical feeling. The crumb is soft and tender, thanks to the addition of corn starch, with a pleasant density indicative of any good bundt cake.

The glaze is fruity and tropical with a really interesting heat and flavor from the Thai bird’s beak chilies. If you aren’t feeling as frisky as I was, you can certainly leave the chilies out and this glaze recipe would still work really well. You could also swap them for a habanero if you want the heat but can’t find Thai chilies.

I also want to mention that the pan I used to make this cake is the Nordic Ware Jubilee pan. I love the elegant curves and modern lines of this pan and it’s quickly become one of my favorite bundt shapes. If you’d like to get your hands on a Jubilee pan, check out my latest giveaway for a chance to win one of your very own! Sorry folks, this giveaway is only open to people with a mailing address in the US (within the contiguous 48). Good luck!

Make sure you keep scrolling down past the recipe to check out all the other amazing coconut creations everyone came up with this month. I’m drooling!

Toasted Coconut Lime Bundt Cake with Chili Lime Glaze

Servings: 12 to 16
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adapted from Taste and Tell

3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2½ cups granulated sugar
4 limes
3¼ cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
6 large eggs
1 (13.5 oz) can unsweetened coconut milk

2 cups powdered sugar
3 thai bird’s eye chilies *see note

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan.
Spread shredded coconut in an even layer on a sheet pan and toast until golden and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Check every few minutes and stir around if necessary to promote even toasting and prevent burning.
Zest and juice the limes. Reserve the juice and add the zest to the bowl of a stand mixer along with the softened butter and sugar. Cream on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
With the mixer on low add the eggs, one at a time, along with the vanilla and coconut extract, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
In a small bowl, measure out and mix together 1 1/2 cups coconut milk and 1/4 cup lime juice. Reserve the remaining coconut milk and lime juice for the glaze. With the mixer on low, alternate additions of flour and coconut milk, starting and ending with flour.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and stir in 2 1/2 cups of the toasted coconut. Reserve remaining coconut for garnish. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and level the batter with a spatula.
Bake in the center of the oven for about 60 to 65 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack and cool until room temperature.

While the cake is baking, combine the remaining 1/4 cup lime juice and 1/4 cup coconut milk in a small saucepan. Remove the stems and slice the Thai chilies in half lengthwise. Add to the coconut lime liquid and place over a medium high flame just until the mixture comes to a low boil. Remove from heat and let steep while cake bakes and cools. Wash your hands well after handling the sliced chilies.
To make the glaze, strain the coconut lime chili liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth and free of lumps. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and immediately sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of toasted coconut.

*cooks note: If you can’t find fresh Thai chilies, you may be able to find dried ones in the asian foods section. If that’s a no go, you can try using another type of very spicy chili, like a habanero, instead. I think 1 habanero chili would be enough. You could also skip them if you want.
Be sure to wash your hands well immediately after handling these extremely spicy chilies.

Can you believe all these mouthwatering coconut cakes? I wish I could taste each and every one!

Almond Joy Bundtlettes from Sew You Think You Can Cook
Candy Bar Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake from Love and Confections
Chocolate Italian Cake from Magnolia Days
Coconut & Banana Bundt Cake from Just One Bite Baking
Coconut Banana Bundt Cake from Basic N Delicious
Coconut Carrot Bundt Cake from Media Racion Doble, Por Favor
Coconut Cream Bundt Cake from Adventures in All Things Food
Coconut Hummingbird Bundt Cake from Patty’s Cake
Coconut Milk Bundt Cake from I Love Bundt Cakes
Coconut Milk Bundt Cake from Un Mordisco Un Pecado
Coconut Oil Pound Cake from The Spiced Life
Coconut Sugar Banana Cake from A Kingdom for a Cake
Cranberry and Coconut Bundt Cake from La Cocina de Aisha
Cranberry, Orange and Coconut Bundt Cake from Kids & Chic
German Chocolate Bundt Cake from The Freshman Cook
Glazed Chocolate Macaroon Bundt Cake from Food Lust People Love
Gluten-free Coconut Orange Bundt Cake with Coconut Whipped Cream from Cassie’s Kitchen
Gizzada Mini Bundts from Passion Kneaded
Key Lime and Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake from Eat, Drink and Be Mighty
Key Lime Coconut Cream Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Mini Samoa Bundt Cakes from Making Miracles
Orange & Coconut Bundt Cake from Living the Gourmet
Oreo Coconut Bundt Cake from Indian Curries/Stew
Pina Colada Bundt Cake from Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Rhubarb n Rose Coconut Frosted Bundt Cake from Baking in Pyjamas
Rum Bundt Cake with Coconut and Lime from Bourbon and Brown Sugar
Toasted Coconut and Sweet Potato Bundt from Tea and Scones
Toasted Coconut Lime Bundt Cake with Chili Lime Glaze from Brooklyn Homemaker

coconut curry squash soup

Have you been outside lately? No? Good. Don’t do it.

I’m not sure where you live, but if you live in the Northeast like me, specifically in New York City, then you know that this winter has officially been the worst. I’m no stranger to cold weather, I lived in the Adirondack mountains for several years, but New York City isn’t used to this amount of snow, especially not when it sticks around and piles up instead of melting after a day or two. The infrastructure of this great city is not designed to deal with this kind of build up and, much like the city’s inhabitants, there’s nowhere for it to go but up. The narrow strip of sidewalk between the road and the walkway carved out of the snow is the only place to put it, and in some places its reaching several feet high at this point.

To make matters worse, the weather has been pivoting back and forth between two stages lately. One day you’ll have complete white out snow coming at you from angles you didn’t know existed. Then the next day will be just warm enough for the piles of snow to start to melt, while simultaneously blocking all the storm drains, creating giant slush ponds at every cross walk in the five boroughs. Then we go back to white out conditions, the slush ponds freeze over, and we start the process all over again. When you consider that this is a city where most people who live here depend on public transportation and their own feet to get around, I’m sure you can imagine how all this snow and slush is starting to wear at people.

A few days ago it was looking pretty outside so I tried to wear a pair of less-than-waterproof leather boots to work. Call it hubris. Call it naiveté. Call it idiocy. Whatever you call it, I was out the door less than three minutes before my left foot was completely soaked. By the time I made it to work both my feet were soaked through and remained so for the entire day. If you’ve never tried to wear leather boots and thick wet socks while working on your feet for an eight-hour shift, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you’re considering it, trust me, it’s not what you might think. It’s not nearly as thrilling or dangerous as, say, spelunking, nor is it as relaxing as sitting in the sand and dipping your toes in the ocean.

As you can imagine, these past few weeks have left me wanting warm, hearty, filling meals when I get home and wring out my socks. That’s what led me to this soup. I love a creamy traditional squash soup in cold weather, but the way things have been going I wanted to brighten that concept up with some summery, fresh flavors and a bit of citrus and spice. I thought that something about this combination of flavors might help me forget about the frozen hellscape outside, and boy was I right. There’s something so hearty, homey and comforting about a thick, creamy winter squash soup. Rather than flavoring it with traditional autumn or winter flavors though, the tropical flavors of coconut and lime take this to a totally different place. Since these traditionally Asian flavors are usually associated with thin brothy soups, I was a bit worried that the two concepts might clash, but they actually work really really well together. When you take your first spoonful, if you close your eyes and taste the chili, coconut and lime, you can almost imagine you’re somewhere warm and tropical. So, I cranked the heat in my apartment, put on some flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers, and did my best not to dive into the bowl face first.

Because I have to be difficult, I couldn’t just find a recipe online and leave it at that, I had to make some changes to make it my own. The original recipe called for butternut squash, but I thought it would be fun to try a mix of different squashes for a depth of flavor. Along with butternut, I also used a pretty green kabocha squash. The flavors work really nicely together, but even with small squashes, twice the squash meant twice the soup. The recipe below feeds eight people so, unless you’re feeding a crowd, feel free to cut the recipe in half and choose one type of squash or the other. Both would be great on their own, so I’ll let you be the one to decide. The good news is that this soup freezes really well so, if you’re indecisive and want to make the full recipe, you can freeze your leftovers and pull a portion or two out on especially cold and crappy days.

Another small change I decided to make was to use strips of ginger instead of grating it. Not only does this mean you save yourself the steps of peeling and grating the ginger, but it also means the finished soup has a slightly subtler ginger flavor. I love ginger but it can sometimes be a bit intense, so this way the strips steep in the soup as it cooks, and you pluck out them before you puree everything. I’d recommend that you count how many strips go into the pot so that you know how many need to come out at the end. If one or two elude you though, and make their way into the blender, it’s not really anything to worry about.

You will want to have a strong blender or immersion blender to make sure you get your finished soup completely pureed. For this soup you want the squash to add a creaminess, but don’t really want to have any chunks left since they’ll be kind of mushy. Since the finished soup is so silky, smooth, and almost drinkable, I think a garnish of fresh cilantro and chopped roasted peanuts or cashews adds a bit of texture and interest. Garnish or not, this soup is seriously delicious.

Oh hey friends! One last thing! If you’re as big a fan of Brooklyn Homemaker as I am, please vote for me for “Best Daily Read” cooking blog on theKitchn’s “The Homies”. If I’m still in the top five at the end of the week, I’ll make it into the finals next week! So so exciting! Even if I don’t win, the exposure brings in lots of new readers, which is essential to the health of any good blog.
You’ll need to sign up for an account, but it only takes a second, and it means a lot to me. If you havent’ already, please show your support and vote for me here. And, seriously, THANK YOU!!! I never imagined I’d be doing so well so quickly when I started this blog last year. To be nominated, and to be doing so well, is such a honor.
Okay, without further ado, the recipe…

Thai Coconut Curry Squash Soup

Servings: 8ish
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adapted from How Sweet It Is

2 tbsp coconut oil (or olive oil in a pinch)
1 onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
1 four or five-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced length-wise
4 tbsp red curry paste
6 cups vegetable (or chicken) stock
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into rough cubes
1 small kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into rough cubes
2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk
juice of 3 limes, about 1/2 cup
1 tsp sriracha (less if you’re scared, more if you’re feeling spicy)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
chopped cilantro, if desired
chopped roasted peanuts or cashews, if desired

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-low heat, add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, (counted) ginger slices and curry paste, stir until it is incorporated, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in the stock and add the cubed squash. Cover pot and increase the heat to medium. Cook until the squash is soft, about 30 minutes.

Once the squash is fork tender, turn off the heat, cool slightly, and very carefully pour the entire mixture into a blender, in batches. Blend until the soup is smooth and pureed. You could also do this with an immersion blender but be careful not to miss any squash. Pour the soup back into the pot and turn the heat to medium low. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, and sriracha. Stir well and cover, and cook for 10 minutes until it’s completely warm. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. If you’re feeling fancy, Garnish of chopped cilantro and roasted peanuts.