Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Soup Curried Butternut SquashWell brace yourselves. The weather folks say the cold is coming our way. So head on out to your favorite grocery and snap up these ingredients; this stuff is amazing! Shaping up to be a perfect weekend to stay inside, sip soup, and movie binge! Here’s what you’ll need:
Netflix
On Demand
1 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1 inch chunks
5 cups chicken broth
1 cup coconut milk
3 Tbs lime juice
1/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper
3/4 stick butter
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 Tbs curry powder

Soup Curried Butternut Squash IICombine squash and broth in heavy soup pot.
Cook over medium heat 15 minutes until squash is tender.
Turn heat off.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer squash to blender, reserving broth.
Process until smooth, about 20 seconds.
Stir pureed squash back into broth.
Add milk, lime juice, salt, and pepper.
In small sauce pan, melt butter over low heat.
Add water, flour and curry.
Stir until all are combined, making a thick paste.
Turn soup heat to medium.
Stir paste into soup.
It may take a bit of work to dissolve the paste.
Turn heat to low and cook until soup thickens, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Serves 6 as entrée soup, or 12 – 16 in demitasse.
**Note: If tiny lumps of paste float on top of soup, skim them off with slotted spoon and discard.

Curried Shrimp

b037bYesiree, we just returned from Istanbul “not Constantinople”. (More on the trip coming soon; this is just to whet that appetite!) The Spice Market was spectacular. It was extremely difficult not to just pack up an entire kiosk and run away with everything. The curries were particularly beautiful…proof is in the pics! Consumed quite a bit of that Asian influence spice while we were there, and talked the chef at Tugra Palace into sharing this one with me, best I could understand his heavily accented English that is. But hey, I don’t speak ANY Turkish!b037c

Entree Seafood Curried Shrimp II

1 lb cleaned shrimp
3 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/4 t salt
Dash paprika
Dash cayenne pepper
1 Tbs curry powder
3 t ketchup
1/4 cup sherry

In a large skillet make a sauce over low heat whisking together the butter, flour and milk for approximately 3 minutes.

Stir in salt, paprika, pepper, and curry and continue to cook, stirring constantly until mixture is thick and smooth.
Add ketchup, sherry and shrimp.
Turn heat to medium and continue to cook with lid on until shrimp is cooked, approximately 4 to 5 minutes, turning often.

To serve:
Place a mound of rice on each of 4 plates.
Spoon shrimp and sauce on top of rice.
Garnish with parsley.