The universe was trying to stop me from making this soup.
I got broccoli in the CSA, and since we’ve officially entered soup weather, I knew that’s the direction I was going. But there was a not quite enough broccoli for the big batch of soup I wanted to make, so I decided to pick up an extra head at the farmer’s market. So far so good. I stopped by Trader Joe’s for the langostino tails, coconut milk, limes, and curry paste but they we’re out of curry paste. So I hopped over to another grocery store for the curry paste.
Flash forward to the following evening. I put Theo to bed, poured myself a glass of wine, minced the shallots and ginger. I got the rest of the ingredients from the fridge and pantry. Except for the coconut milk, which was no where to be seen. I searched every possible cabinet, then searched for the very specific reusable bag that I had used to take the groceries home. It was gone. Which didn’t make any sense because I had somehow gotten the rest of the groceries home. And you can’t really make broccoli coconut soup without the coconut milk.
My working theory is that I left the coconut milk in the bag, and someone clearly broke into our house and robbed us—taking only the bag and leaving my iPad and dSLR camera that were sitting right next to it. There is no other logical explanation.
Despite this traumatic experience, I went and got more coconut milk the following day. That means this soup took a CSA, farmer’s market, and three grocery store visits to acquire all the necessary ingredients. But it was so totally worth it. Thanks for listening to my rambling minutia, now go make this soup—it’s delicious.
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 1 large or 2 small shallots, minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
- 3 tablespoons green curry paste
- 1 13.5-ounce can full fat coconut milk
- 2 splashes of fish sauce
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- Kosher salt
- 1 pound broccoli stems and florets, chopped
- 2 cups spinach
- Juice from ½ a lime
- 6 ounces langostino tails or shrimp, fresh if you can find them, otherwise pre-cooked and defrosted
- 2 scallions, cut on the bias
- Freshly cracked black cracked black pepper
- In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon canola oil over medium high heat. Add shallots and ginger, and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add in curry paste and stir, letting it darken, for about 1 minute.
- Pour in coconut milk, fish sauce, vegetable broth, coriander, and salt. Bring to a simmer, then add the broccoli. Cook for 10-15 minutes, covered, until the broccoli is tender. Remove from the heat and stir in spinach and lime juice. Let cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, heat remaining canola oil in a small saucepan over high heat. Add in langostino tails and cook until just barely pink if starting with fresh or sear for about 30 seconds if defrosted. Remove from heat.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth.
- Pour soup into bowls and top soup with langostino tails, scallions, and freshly ground black pepper.
3journalistic
writes 1replacement