Snapper w/Curry Coconut Soup

I got the idea to make this soup from a fellow chef. For a dinner party she was cooking for friends, she made a Curry Coconut Soup with Lobster Claws, drizzled with Truffled Honey. Sounds delicious, doesn't it?


After that conversation, I was craving this soup the rest of the day. Since I don't have 'lobster money', I cut that out of my recipe! I'm not a big fan of truffled honey either, so I knew I wouldn't be adding that to my soup.

This soup sounded so good, that I started thinking about using it as a sauce as well.

I went to the farmers market to figure out what vegetables I wanted to include and found all kinds of goodies.


Like these cute little baby cauliflower.


I had never seen these before, and I was so excited about finding them that I took a picture of them with my cellphone and texted it to my brother. I asked him if he thought the colors looked cool!

Do you know what he texted me back?

"I don't care what color they are, I HATE cabbage". I laughed so hard. He called my cauliflower cabbage.



I guess not everyone gets as excited over food as I do. To each his own.

I also found these cute little Indian eggplants.


As well as sweet potatoes, turnips, sugar snap peas, and carrots.




I love the farmers market. I don't know if I could ever live somewhere that didn't have one. I mean....I would if I HAD to, but I wouldn't be happy about it.

I roasted the vegetables. It was my first time having a roasted turnip. I fell in love.

Seriously!

I texted my mom and told her that I had fallen in love with roasted turnips.

Does anyone else text people about food as much as I do?

One of the next recipes I add on this blog will definitely include roasted root vegetables. I could munch on those throughout the day, as a snack. They get so deliciously sweet, like candy. Love it.

The soup came out tasty. Hope you try it.

Red Snapper w/Curry Coconut Soup ***This recipe makes enough for 4 large servings of soup. You might need to cut the recipe in half***

2-4 filets of snapper, depending on how many people are eating
3 tablespoons oil
6 carrots, roughly chopped
3 sweet potatoes, peeled, roughly chopped
7 baby indian eggplant, cut in half, or 2 regular eggplant, roughly chopped
6 baby cauliflower, cut in half, or 1 large cauliflower roughly chopped
2 turnips, peeled, roughly chopped
1/2 pound sugar snap peas
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon allspice powder
2 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic 2-inch piece ginger, peeled, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons curry paste 2-3 cups chicken stock (depending on how thin/thick you want it) 2 cans coconut milk
2 limes
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a bowl mix carrots, sweet potatoes, turnips, lemongrass, garlic, and ginger with the curry powder, allspice, and oil. Coat vegetables thoroughly with seasonings. Place vegetables on a sheet pan. Roast for 1 hour.

In a separate bowl, mix snap peas, cauliflower, and eggplant, with the curry paste. Place on a sheet pan.

After the other vegetables have roasted for 30 minutes, and these to the oven. Cook the remaining 30 minutes. When vegetables are roasted (to check for doneness, stick a fork in them. If it slides in and out easily their done) remove them from the oven.

In a pot, add the carrots, sweet potatoes, and turnip mixture, along with all of the garlic, ginger, and lemongrass.

Add the chicken stock and coconut milk. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Use and immersion blender to blend soup (or use a regular blender but I HIGHLY suggest you buy an immersion blender. They are so convenient and cheap).

Add lime juice and season with salt.

Serve the roasted snap peas, cauliflower, and eggplant as a side dish.

For the Snapper: Heat pan on medium heat. Season snapper with salt and pepper. Add oil to the pan. Cook fish for approximately 3-4 minutes per side, depending on thickness.