Cumin-Coriander Beef Patties and Green Tomato Curry

There are very few dishes that I am instantly completely and utterly enamored of.  Dishes that I never want to change in any way.  Dishes that are completely perfect as is.  I had a good feeling about this meal, but I thought it had the potential to go wrong in a big way.  I was fairly certain the Cumin Coriander Beef Patties would be good because those flavors are ones that we are pretty familiar with.  We use a lot of cumin, cayenne and coriander in the apartment and we know they taste marvelous together.  And let's be honest - ground beef is a pretty forgiving medium.  How often have you had a truly bad hamburger?  And they were very tasty - with a nice crust on the exterior and tender and aromatic interiors.  If you look at the picture above you can see the flecks of cilantro and onion in the patties.  Yum.  But the Green Tomato Curry made me a little nervous - I figured it had the potential to either be surprising and delicious, or just plain weird.  But I think Alex's word's said it all, "This... is awesome."  And I concurred.  It was amazing.  The Green Tomato Curry had the most amazingly vibrant combination of tartness, heat and sweetness.  I loved it.  It was funky and delicious.  It had a lot going on, but everything just worked together so... perfectly.  I think this is the first Sri Lankan recipe we have ever attempted at home and it was a smashing success. Yay!  I knew Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid wouldn't let me down.  Strangely enough, earlier this week I had decided to do both of these recipes this week on different nights before I realized that the cookbook actually suggested serving them together.  Pure genius.  They really worked together, although I suppose you could serve the curry with a number of different kebob recipes or serve the patties with a number of different side dishes.  They don't have to be served together; they just worked very nicely together.  We served everything with frozen garlic naan from Trader Joe's, but I think the recipes would also work with basmati rice or roti.  Anyway, I wish there was more to say about these recipes but there really isn't, except to say that if you like spicy dishes, you should make this one ASAP.

P.S.  I know that neither of these dishes look all that impressive, but don't let that dissuade you from making them because they really are stunning.  They just aren't very pretty.

Recipes after the jump!

Chicken Stir-Fried with Lemongrass and Chili

We're back!  These past few months have been pretty crazy with traveling.  First we were in Austin, Texas and then we went skiing in Colorado for a week.  And in another week I will be down in North Carolina.  Lots of travel means few(er) blog posts.  Sorry guys.  I have a few prepped and ready to go that I will get up over the course of the next week or so, but it's not going to be a big February on the blog.  Here's hoping March will be a bit quieter.

I know we have made a dish that sounds (and in reality is) shockingly similar to this one about a year ago.  It was called Caramelized Chicken with Lemongrass and Chili from The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook: Home Cooking from Asian American Kitchens.  The key differences between these two recipes - coconut milk, red bell pepper, Madras curry powder and much less lemongrass in this particular rendition.  This recipe also contains a lot less sugar than the other version (I guess that's what happens when you aren't trying to caramelize your chicken), but the coconut milk will lend its own sweetness.  Otherwise, the ingredients are strikingly similar.  To be perfectly honest, I can't decide whether I preferred the flavors of the Caramelized Chicken with Lemongrass and Chili or the flavors of this dish.  As I said, they are very similar.  The dishes were equally flavorful and both had a really good amount of spice, balanced against the sweetness of the coconut milk sauce in this dish and the caramel sauce in the other dish.  The Caramelized Chicken with Lemongrass and Chili was fresher and brighter (with a lot more spicy, floral lemongrass flavor), but this dish was warmer and richer.  I really enjoyed the warmth of the curry powder - even though Madras curry powder isn't exactly a Vietnamese flavor.  I could take or leave the red bell peppers in this dish, but I always feel that way about cooked bell peppers.  In the end, if I was only able to make one of these two dishes again, I would probably pick the other dish by a hair.

Recipe after the jump!

Goan-Style Chicken with Roasted Coconut and Gujerati-Style Green Beans

I have been waiting to make this recipe for Goan-Style Chicken with Roasted Coconut for a long time.  The biggest deterrent to our making the dish was that I was never organized enough to have 2 cups of grated fresh coconut.  And then we saw bags of frozen grated fresh coconut at the Thai grocery store so I picked one up with this recipe in mind.  But it stayed in the freezer until I remembered it earlier this week and unearthed it.  These green beans were another recipe that I have been meaning to try.  A long time ago when I lived down the block from Kalustyans, we picked up Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking on the recommendation of one of the ladies manning the registers.  Our first meal that we made from the cookbook was Green Beans with Ginger and Cilantro and Lemony Chicken with Cilantro.  The chicken was good, but those green beans were a revelation.  Green beans are not a vegetable that I typically associate with Indian cooking.  When I think Indian I think lentils, chickpeas, eggplant, cauliflower and spinach.

Once again, Madhur Jaffrey's green beans were a revelation.  They were really delicious and easy to make.  I loved how the green beans remained crisp-tender, and soaked up the flavors of the garlic and red chili.  They were just so good.  And they went really nicely with the chicken.  I actually slightly preferred the green beans to the chicken (and I went back for seconds on the beans rather than the chicken), but Alex said that he enjoyed them both equally.  We used a mix of boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs for the Goan-Style Chicken and while I preferred the flavor of the breasts (I know, that doesn't make any sense because thighs are more flavorful) they were a little dry.  Meanwhile the chicken thighs just seemed greasy.  I'm weird like that.  The chicken smelled amazing while it cooked and the flavors lived up to the aroma.  It was also a really interesting and delicious combination of flavors - coconut, ginger, chili, coriander, cloves, cumin, etc.  I think the other thing that threw me about the chicken is that you spend all this time toasting the coconut to get it crispy and golden brown.  And then you throw it in a pan with a cup of water to essentially braise/steam the chicken and the coconut gets all soggy.  I think in the future I would reserve a little of the toasted coconut and spice mixture to use as a garnish.  The other thing that threw me was that the fully cooked mixture is a study in beige.  You can see it in the picture and it doesn't exactly look all that appetizing.  But appearances can be deceiving, because it is quite tasty.

Recipe after the jump!

Lemongrass Bars with Coconut Shortbread Crust

It's not often that I obsess over a dessert recipe, but I am mildly obsessed over this one.  Usually when I bake something, I have a few pieces and then happily bring the rest into work for my coworkers.  I might actually eat my way through these lemongrass bars because they are so good.  And Alex might actually go toe-to-toe with me for the last piece, which has literally never happened before.  The filling is creamy and lemony (it reminds me of a more floral/aromatic version of a lemon curd due to the addition of the lemongrass) - a little sweet and a little tart.  I don't usually like lemon bars because I find the filling to be overly sweet and goey, but this one is great.  It tastes fresh and bright, and not at all syrupy.  Not only is the filling good, but the crust is wonderfully buttery and crumbly.  I have never made a shortbread crust for a bar cookie before, but it's totally genius.  I also love the mild coconut flavor in the crust.  When we took the pan out of the oven and I really got a whiff of the fully baked dessert I knew I was in for a treat.  I knew they would be good, but I didn't realize they would be this good.

Recipe after the jump!

Tom Kha Gai - Take 2 (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup)

This variation on tom kha gai comes from our friend Mark (and he in turn stole it from his mother).  We modified it a little to make use of some of the Thai ingredients we picked up at Bangkok Center Grocery on Saturday, but as written the recipe can be made with ingredients you can almost always find in your normal neighborhood grocery stpre.  The only things you need to visit an Asian market to buy are the green curry paste and the fish sauce.  Otherwise you can pick everything you need up in any moderately well-stocked grocery which is awesome for those people who don't have a Thai market in the vicinity.

I really liked this soup.  It was easy to put together, required very few esoteric ingredients, and came together really quickly.  It was also very flavorful.  Rice isn't a traditional addition to tom kha gai (at least not to my knowledge although I don't claim to be an expert on Thai food), but it helps transform the soup from an appetizer to a full and hearty meal.  I guess with the addition of the rice, this soup becomes a combination of a traditional Asian rice soup (like congee in Cantonese food) and a tom kha gai soup.  And for the record, tom kha gai soup is one of my absolute favorite Thai soups - it was one of the first few Thai dishes that I tried and has remained one of the things I love best about Thai cuisine.  The only problem is that tom kha gai is often too sweet or too thin.  Unlike most of those innocuous and overly sweet soups, this one has the lime and coconut flavor, the slight heat, and the freshness of a true tom kha gai soup.  Yum.

Recipe after the jump!

Teochew Braised Duck and Coconut Basmati Pilaf

I originally planned on making this braised duck recipe as part of my Chinese New Year series of meals.  But I never got around to it.  Earlier this week I went by Fairway and picked up a duck and it occurred to me that we had all of the ingredients we needed to make the duck.  And even though we already finished our seven meals for Chinese New Year there was no reason not to make the duck.

I really like this duck, but there are two things I wish we had done.  First, I wish that after we finished braising the duck (and cooling it in the braising liquid), that we had seared it quickly in a screaming hot pan to crisp up the skin over the breasts a little.  Second, instead of making the chili-lime dipping sauce I would have made a simple Vietnamese salt, pepper and lime dipping sauce (made by combining kosher salt, ground white pepper and a healthy squirt of lime juice).  In Vietnamese restaurants the sauce is usually served alongside dishes like Bo Luc Lac (Shaking Beef), butter-fried frog legs, and roast quail.  I thought that the chili-lime dipping sauce here was a little one note and harsh and didn't complement the duck as well as the salt, pepper and lime dipping sauce would have.  The duck was slightly sweet, moist and very flavorful, if a little on the greasy side.  Granted it is duck, so it should be a bit on the greasy side.  You wouldn't believe how much duck fat rendered out during the braising process.  It was unbelievable.  As for the coconut rice, it was nice.  I might add a little more cardamom and ginger next time - particularly the ginger because neither Alex nor I tasted it at all.  I would also add a little more salt and 1 tsp of sugar to the rice, just to give it a hint of sweetness.

Recipes after the jump!

Coconut Macaroons

I'm not certain what it is that I like about coconut macaroons.  But I really like them.  I like everything about them.  I might even like them more than I like cookies, which is shocking.  They are sticky, intensely coconut-y and delicious.  I like them chocolate-dipped, with almond extract, and plain.  I like all of them.  I guess most of that can be attributed to the fact that I really love coconut and always have.  I have really only found a few macaroon variations that truly disappointed me enough that I couldn't finish them.  Conversely, I have really only found a few variations that were good enough that I remember them distinctly.  One variation on a macaroon that I love is the macaroon and nutella sandwich cookie that they serve at the Street Sweets truck.  The macaroon at the truck is thin and crispy, almost like a florentine.  And I had never considered the combination of nutella and coconut before, but it was totally delicious.  And I generally like my macaroons a little on the sticky side, but they taste really nice crispy like that.  Joe the Art of Coffee on the UWS also has really nice chocolate-dipped macaroons.  They're not too sweet, not to sticky - a very classic macaroon.

I have never tried a macaroon recipe that uses condensed milk before, but I figured why not give it a try?  The last batch of macaroons I made using a more traditional recipe just weren't quite as good as I was hoping for, so I was looking to try something new and different.  I kept finding blog posts and recipes that used condensed milk, so apparently it's not that uncommon to add it to your macaroons.  Who knew?  As you might expect from macaroons that used condensed milk (or from any baked good that uses condensed milk), these macaroons were a bit on the sticky side.  But that's ok, because I like sticky.  They also spread out and ooze a lot more than your typical macaroon (which is made up of coconut, egg white, vanilla extract and very little else) during the baking process.  The macaroons weren't crispy enough for me to want to make sandwich cookies out of - I think if you're going for that kind of recipe we would need coconut that is more finely ground, a touch of flour to bind the ingredients and give them a more cookie-like texture, and no condensed milk.  The fact that we started out with over a dozen macaroons and now only have one or two left should bear witness to the fact that these macaroons weren't too shabby...

Recipe after the jump!

Coconut Shrimp

I have had this recipe bookmarked to try for awhile.  And when I say bookmarked, I mean that I flagged it with a little sticky when I first bought The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.  I tend to scan through brand new cookbooks within the first few days and bookmark/flag all of the recipes that really interest me.  And then once I make those recipes, the flags come off.  What can I say?  I'm a lawyer.  I love little stickies and I particularly love those highlighters that come with flags in them.  They are awesome.  Ok so I'm a geek.  What of it?

Anyway, considering that I had been waiting months to make this recipe and was all excited about it, in the end I thought it was not that exciting.  Don't get me wrong, it was good.  I ate it all, but I don't think I would make it again.  Now part of that might be due to the fact that I had to substitute sherry for cognac (since I didn't have cognac, brandy or rum), and I tend to find sherry to be a bit overwhelming.  I briefly considered adding some dry white wine in lieu of the cognac and maybe that would have been a better substitution.  I also thought that the toasted coconut got soggy way too fast when you added it to the shrimp, which seemed to defeat the purpose of toasting it in the first place.  I'm not sure.  I think I was just expecting more from the dish since the rest of the recipes I have tried from the cookbook have been so great.  I also really love the combination of shrimp and coconut - but I just didn't get much coconut flavor from the dish.  All I really tasted was sherry (which, again, was more my fault than anything else).  I also thought the dish was crying out for something else to give it another layer of flavor.  Perhaps some minced ginger (just a little bit) would have been a nice addition?  I don't know.  But in the future if I have a craving for coconut shrimp, I will probably make these Coconut Shrimp instead.

Recipe after the jump!

Silky Coconut-Pumpkin (Butternut Squash) Soup

Butternut squash soup is one of my favorite things about fall.  It is so soothing and delicious.  Nothing makes me think fall more than butternut squash soup and apples.  And I guess traditional Thanksgiving turkey and pumpkin pie, but when I think of those dishes I think specifically about Thanksgiving rather than fall as a season.  Anyway, now that the weather has finally cooled down after a brutally hot summer (right now it is 61 degrees outside and raining - perfect soup weather) I was super excited to make a batch of butternut squash soup for dinner.  I had two butternut squash recipes bookmarked to try - this recipe from Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia, and another recipe for Butternut Squash Soup with Rosemary from the Lee Brothers Simple Southern Dinners.  Since we used the Lee Brothers cookbook all of last week (I think we made three recipes out of it) and since I have an infatuation with coconut milk and all things Asian, we had to make this recipe.  And honestly, how awesome does "Silky Coconut-Pumpkin Soup" sound?!

As high as my expectations were, this soup totally delivered.  It is warm and soothing - comfort food at its best.  Because of the coconut milk, cilantro, and fish sauce it is also a little exotic, which was totally fun.  I thought that the scallion garnish was a wonderful touch.  It gave the soup a little texture and some freshness so it lightened up the richness of the coconut milk and butternut squash.  I love fall.  Or I will love it once it actually arrives.  For now I guess I just love this soup.

Recipe after the jump!

Short Rib Rendang and Coconut Rice

This short rib rendang was inspired by the version served at Fatty Crab.  The only experience I have with making any sort of rendang was at a cooking class Alex and I took at the Institute of Culinary Education last Christmas, where we made chicken rendang.  So this was something of a novel experiment for me.  I found the actual recipe from Fatty Crab online and was all excited about it until I discovered that it called for all sorts of esoteric ingredients and was overly complicated.  Assam skin and Gula Jawa?  What are those?  Anyways, not going to happen.  So then I looked back over the recipe from our chicken rendang and then looked at a few other recipes online and decided to just throw something together and hope for the best.  I figured there were some ingredients that showed up in all of the recipes (ginger or galangal, chilis, coconut milk, toasted coconut, shallots), and only a few ways to braise short ribs.  How wrong could I possibly go?

My short ribs cannot compete with Fatty Crab's, but that is no surprise.  Fatty Crab is fantastic at putting together very aggressive, funky, delicious flavors and I am nowhere near that skilled (or that bold when it comes to flavoring).  I also had to dial down the spice level of the dish (we only used 3 Thai chilis) because Alex didn't want me to blow any of our friends' tastebuds out with Thai chili peppers.  I wanted to throw in five chilis, but Alex was worried it would get too spicy.  Oh well.  Next time!  For our first attempt at short rib rendang, without a recipe to follow, I think we did a pretty good job!  A little more tweaking and the recipe will be truly fantastic! 

And just as a side note, these short ribs taste even better the next day (like with all braised things) as the flavors have time to concentrate and really infuse the meat while sitting overnight in the braising liquid in the fridge.  We had the ribs for lunch today and they were just that much sweeter and more flavorful so I highly recommend making enough short ribs so that you can eat them as leftovers too!

Recipe after the jump!

Macaroons

I know that for some people, macaroons are an acquired taste.  Boy have I acquired that taste.  I find it really difficult to resist a nice fluffy, moist coconut macaroon - chocolate-dipped or not.  I'm not sure where my love of coconut macaroons stems from because I can't ever remember eating them when I was younger and I'm not sure what possessed me to try them as I got older, but I am sure glad that I did.  I know that some recipes use sweetened condensed milk, but I really wanted to stick to the traditional macaroons before branching out and using condensed milk (although I bet that macaroons made with condensed milk instead of egg whites are fabulously rich).

These macaroons have a really nice almond flavor to them.  If you don't like almonds, or marzipan, I would recommend using all vanilla extract and leaving out the almond extract, or just cutting down on the amount of almond extract.

Recipe after the jump!

Banana Bread with Coconut and Chocolate Chips

Even though I am fairly certain that I have come up with the ultimate banana bread recipe with my Green Curry Coconut Banana Bread, I am always on the hunt for new recipes.  You never know when you might stumble upon something new and delicious.  Also, I was out of creme fraiche and green curry paste, so I couldn't make my favorite banana bread anyway.  Oh well.  This banana bread was good, but it just can't compete with the green curry banana bread.  It had a nice crisp exterior and a moist crumb.  Because I used bittersweet chocolate chips the banana bread wasn't nearly as sweet as I thought it would be.  I was a little nervous about using an entire cup of sugar, and if I used semisweet chocolate chips instead of bittersweet, I would probably cut back to 3/4 cup sugar.  Unfortunately the Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips I used are about twice the size of regular chocolate chips and they sank to the bottom of the banana bread.  I have heard that if you toss the chocolate chips with a little flour before adding them to the batter it solves this problem, so I will give that a shot next time.  I love the texture and taste of the coconut flakes in the banana bread, something that is also true of my Green Curry Coconut Banana Bread (which is where the idea came from).  I was hoping that you would taste the ground cardamom a little more, but you only get a tiny hint of it.  And if you didn't know to look for it, you probably wouldn't notice it at all.  That isn't necessarily a bad thing mind you - the flavor of cardamom can be a bit overwhelming at times.  All things considered, I would probably give this banana bread a solid B, which isn't bad for an hour's work.

Recipe after the jump!

Samoa Blondies

I think I'm like everyone when I say that growing up in the suburbs, I loved Girl Scout Cookie season.  Actually, I'm all grown up now and I probably love Girl Scout Cookie season even more now than I did back then because you never run into Girl Scouts selling cookies in the city.  Until I went skiing in Colorado this past year it had been years since my last Girl Scout cookie experience.  My absolute favorite of their cookies is the Samoa, followed by the Thin Mint (who doesn't love Thin Mints)?  Alex's favorites are the Do-Si-Dos.  According to the Girl Scout Cookies website, there are all sorts of new types of cookies that I have never seen or tried before, but in this one instance, I am happy sticking to the cookies I already know and love.

I have been reading the blog Savory Sweet Life ever since I stumbled across one of their posts on Tastespotting several months ago.  When I saw their newest post today on Samoa Blondies, I knew I had to make them ASAP.  There are few things I like more than coconut, chocolate and caramel combined in one sweet and gooey little package.  Now these blondies aren't quite the same as Samoas.  For one, they lack the darker, deeper caramel of Samoas.  Also, since they're blondies instead of cookies the texture is different - more cakey and less crispy.  But with all of that said, they are really good.  They are also quite rich so you might want to cut them in smaller pieces than I did (I cut the entire 8x8 pan of blondies into 9 squares), and definitely serve them with milk.  I love coconut, so these were perfect for me, but if you're not a coconut lover you might want to stick with brownies or plain old chocolate chip cookies.  Also, if you're a Samoas purist, this isn't the recipe for you, but it sure is a great start.

Recipe after the jump!

Coconut Rice

Mangoes over coconut sticky rice is one of my favorite Asian desserts.  If we're being honest here, there are very few Asian desserts that are any good.  The Chinese like to throw beans in things and call it dessert (like baobing - Taiwanese shaved ice with beans, fruit and syrup).  But mangoes over coconut sticky rice is unbelievably delicious.  The idea to use coconut rice as a savory component to a meal, rather than as a dessert, came from Fatty Crab here in NYC.  They serve coconut rice with their chili crab and their mussels.  The coconut rice is also used in their nasi lemak and the Malay fish fry we tried there the other night.  So as a side for the Spiced Chicken with Coconut Cream we made the other night I decided to go ahead and make some coconut rice and serve it both as a more savory side and for dessert.  The texture of the coconut rice isn't the same as the sticky rice, thus it's not quite as dessert-like, but it makes an amazing side dish.  One that we will definitely be making more often.

Recipe after the jump!

Spiced Chicken with Coconut Cream

A year or two ago I discovered that bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts are so much better than boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  The discovery came after watching the Barefoot Contessa roast some chicken breasts on Food Network and deciding to try it out for myself.  Who knew that the bones and skin (even if you end up picking most of it off like I do) could make such a difference?  One of my favorite things about roasting bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts is how easy and versatile it is.  All you have to do is rub your chicken breast with evoo, s&p and whatever fresh herbs or spices you desire and you will have a wonderful dinner entree.  You can stick to the basics, or you can get really creative.  It's all up to you.  This recipe falls under the heading of really creative.  It's actually a recipe that I heavily modified from Street Food: Exploring the World's Most Authentic Tastes by Tom Kime.  The recipe was written for use with poussins (baby chickens), or whole roasted chicken at the very least.  But since I almost always have bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts in the freezer, and rarely ever have poussins or whole chickens, I decided to play with the recipe a bit to make it work for me.  The chicken here is also meant to be grilled.  Since I live in an apartment in NYC that's clearly not happening, but I can make it work.  After all, that is one of the things that amuses me most about cooking - it gives me the ability to take one thing and adapt it to suit my tastes.  I love being able to do that.

This chicken was moist, but it wasn't as flavorful as I had predicted given the ingredients in the spice paste/marinade and the basting liquid.  However, the juices and leftover paste on the chicken was wonderful when mixed with the coconut rice I served with the chicken.  I had originally made the coconut rice to serve with the champagne mangoes I bought at Whole Foods (which I did still serve for dessert), but I discovered that the rice was equally delicious with the chicken.  Perhaps in the future I will add more salt to the marinade/spice paste.  Another problem was that the skin on the chicken didn't crisp up at all.  So I've got some work to do on perfecting this recipe, but have faith - I will get there eventually.

Recipe after the jump!

Green Curry Coconut Banana Bread

So after baking a loaf of Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Banana Bread the other day I had a few bananas left over for yet another banana bread baking experiment.  I thought about returning to an old fave, but decided to just go nuts instead.  Momofuku Milk Bar has this green curry banana bread that I tried a bite of once upon a time, and since I had bananas and green curry paste I figured I could whip up a batch of my own.  I always think that coconut and curry go wonderfully together, plus I wanted some extra sweetness to balance out the heat of the Maesri green curry paste (which is pretty fearsome stuff), so I also threw in some sweetened shredded coconut.  I didn't have any sour cream or unsalted butter left, but I did have some leftover creme fraiche, eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil, so I decided to use what I had to throw together a batch of banana bread.  I decided against the buttermilk because I thought the slight tang of it might not go well with the coconut and green curry paste, but I figured that eggs, creme fraiche and vegetable oil wouldn't clash with my vaguely Southeast Asian flavor profile.  I was a little hesitant about the creme fraiche at first but I love adding dairy products like creme fraiche, sour cream and buttermilk to baked goods for the richness and moistness that it produces, so I decided to just go for it and try it with the creme fraiche.

While the bread was baking I could only get the faintest whiff of the green curry paste, although the aroma of something banana-y and delicious wafted through the whole apartment.  Actually, I'm not even sure that I smelled the green curry paste so much as I might have imagined myself smelling it, but what can you do.  When I tasted the batter there was a subtle kick of heat and spice to it that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I thought about adding more green curry paste, but decided that I didn't want the taste of the green curry to completely overpower the taste of the banana and coconut.  And in the end I think I used the perfect amount of green curry paste.  This bread is fantastic.  The taste of the green curry is subtle, but definitely there.  It lingers on the tongue and gives the bread a savory quality lacking from most banana bread recipes.  It's definitely not in your face, but it's impossible to miss (even if you can't quite figure out what it is).  The sweetness of the coconut is subtle as well, but I think it really adds something.  The crumb is wonderful as well - super moist, with a nice crust that formed on the top.  Unlike the Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, this banana bread is more bread and less cake - both in terms of sweetness and the crumb itself.  I only baked the Green Curry Coconut Banana Bread today, but at the rate we're eating it I might have to go bake another loaf!  It's really that good.

Recipe after the jump!

Carrot-Ginger Soup with Coconut Shrimp

Of the three traditional food magazines, Food & Wine was always my least favorite.  Then Gourmet was canceled last year, and I found myself turning to Food & Wine more.  This is one of the few recipes that we have actually made from Food & Wine.  Generally I turn to it for inspiration, but don't bother making the recipes.  I'm not really sure why that is, but I do tend to find the recipes from Food & Wine to be more complicated than those from Bon Appetit and Gourmet.  Granted, that's something of a gross generalization, but beyond that I'm not sure why I don't subscribe to Food & Wine like I did to Gourmet, or make more recipes from it.  Then again, I somehow ended up with a subscription to Everyday by Rachael Ray and even though I had all of the issues, I can't remember making a single recipe.  Nothing against the magazine, I just rarely found things that excited me enough to break out my knives and get cooking.

This recipe from Food & Wine is delightful.  Prior to making the soup tonight, we had made the coconut shrimp a few times.  If you're just making the coconut shrimp, I recommend adding some lime zest to the grated coconut and serving it with sweet chili dipping sauce.  It's delicious.  The original recipe doesn't specify whether to use sweetened or unsweetened grated coconut, but I like to mix the two.  If you use all sweetened coconut and serve it with the sweet chili dipping sauce it gets a little cloyingly sweet.  But if you mix the two coconuts it's perfect.  The shrimp are also delicious when served with this soup.  The soup is a little sweet from the carrots and the onions, with definite peanut butter undertones.  The addition of the milk and the coconut milk make the soup velvety smooth and creamy.  Both the soup and the coconut shrimp have a little heat to them from the crushed red pepper flakes and the cayenne pepper respectively.  I know that Alex and I like spicy more than some, but the hit of mild and creeping heat makes the soup for me.

Recipe after the jump!