It's Time For a Healthy Breakfast!

At about 2pm today, I got it in my head that I wanted to make some scones. I couldn't tell you why. The idea just popped in my head: "Scones! I should make scones!"

And it wouldn't go away.

I've never made scones before. Eaten a lot of them. But never made them.

I still have a bunch of lemons at home from Anna's bountiful Meyer lemon tree. I knew I wanted my scones to have lemon in them.

I also wanted them to have oats. Quaker Oats, to be specific.

While I considered my options, I made some oat flour.
Oat flour is pretty easy to make. I don't know why I've never made it before.

Here's how. Get some oats. Quaker, natch.

Put them in a food processor, pulse it a few times, then push the "on" button and let it run for a couple of minutes. 

Possibly the most boring "action" shot ever.

Here's the oat flour, up close and personal.

Let's review.
Lemon...oats...and...um...blueberry. Yes! Blueberry! Of course!

Kate's Blueberry-Lemon Oat Scones
makes 24 mini (2") scones

Ingredients
1 cup whole spelt flour
1/2 cup oat flour plus extra for forming the scones
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
zest of one or two lemons, Meyer if you have them
5 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small (1/2") pieces
1/4 cup (Quaker!) oats
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not thaw)
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup yogurt (I used 0% Greek yogurt)

Egg wash:
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk


Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
 
2. Put the spelt flour, oat flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest into the food processor bowl and pulse it a few times until blended. 


3. Add the butter to the bowl and process about ten pulses or until incorporated but not clumpy. Think slightly damp sand texture.

4. Dump into a large bowl and add the oats. 

5. Mix together 1/2 cup milk and yogurt in a measuring cup. Whisk to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix gently with a wooden spoon to combine. 

6. When nearly incorporated, add the blueberries.  

7. Put the bowl in the freezer for 3-4 minutes to firm up the dough a bit.


8. Scatter oat flour on your work surface and turn the dough out. Form the dough into a rectangle.

Cut lengthwise into thirds, then crosswise into squares, then cut each square diagonally to form 24 small triangles.

9. Place the triangles on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Whisk together the egg and milk and brush the scones with this egg wash.

10. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until the tops of the scones begin to brown.

I've already eaten three of them. 
Ok, four. I'm eating the fourth one right now.

These are good. They taste like they might even be good for you. They're surprisingly tender and not dense at all. Barely scone-like, actually. It must be the oats. Oats are powerful.

The rest are coming to work with me tomorrow. I've got to get them out of here before I eat them all!

Gobsmacked on Valentine's Day

OMG, you guys. The best thing ever happened to me on Valentine’s Day.  I know that was more than a month ago but bear with me. Ironically, this best-thing-ever had nothing to do with hearts, love, flowers, boys, diamonds, or anything like that. 

No. 

What happened was: I hacked a cupcake recipe and it WORKED.

Yeah. I’m totally, like, a rogue baker.

What. Up.

Maybe I should get a tattoo.

Ok, I’m being completely absurd but I’m not sure I can sufficiently express the feelings of accomplishment and joy that accompanied this particular endeavor. I want to put this on my resume.

I’m serious.

Here’s how it all went down.

Joy the Baker, one of my favorite cooking bloggers, posted a recipe for flourless Strawberry Cupcakes using coconut flour. Intrigued, I bought the cookbook featuring that very recipe.

I made the Strawberry Cupcakes, as directed. Only problem is the author of said cookbook is militantly anti-refined sugar and so uses agave nectar. Well, I’m not exactly pro-refined-anything but let me tell you something about agave: it is off the charts high in fructose. And guess whose belly doesn’t appreciate fructose?

That would be mine.

So first batch, I made by the book. Second batch, I subbed in granulated sugar and a little extra water.

You can see these specimens below. They were fine but a little odd-tasting and the strawberry flavor wasn't coming through as much as I'd hoped. 

Agave on the left, granulated cane sugar on the right.

Meh.

I felt I could do better.

I found a recipe on marthastewart.com (my go to for baking – her recipes always, always come out perfectly) for Strawberry Cupcakes that seemed to be popular among the commenters.

There were just a few problems:

The recipe made 34 cupcakes, which was about three times more than I needed.

The recipe used all-purpose flour and cake flour.

We’re still not totally clear on what my stomach issues are but one thing I know for sure is that common wheat is not my friend. I can’t eat it. Period. If I do, about an hour later, things get ugly. My stomach hurts something awful, my joints ache, and I become exhausted with this overwhelming feeling that I MUST go to bed IMMEDIATELY, at which point I literally cannot think of anything else.

The only thing I can liken this reaction to is:…

You know when you have a long day of day-drinking? You start at maybe 11am or so? And you’ve done a mediocre job drinking water in between? And around about 8 or 9pm, you just crash?

It’s kind of a little bit like that feeling. The feeling that you just HAVE TO go to bed. NOW. You stop talking to other people. You pass out face down with your clothes and makeup on.

Except, also, pretend someone is stabbing you in the gut. And that every movement of your limbs aches.

Those are just the immediate effects. The lingering gut effects sometimes last for a few days.  I’ll spare you the details.

Needless to say, I’m never willingly eating wheat again. The doc thinks it’s fair to say I have a wheat allergy.

Obviously, it’s been hard for me to admit to myself that I can’t eat wheat. Really hard. I’m sure this sounds petty, but I’m not lying when I say it’s been a bit of an emotional battle. I really love croissants. Always have. Always will. And there are times when all I want is a damn burrito. Just a normal, Chipotle burrito for lunch. Is that too much to ask?

Unfortunately, yes. I went through denial and I’m working on acceptance.  It’s getting better.

But it got a lot better on Valentine’s Day. February 14, 2012 will forever be the Day I Realized That All Was Not Lost in My Baking Future. That I could, and would continue to learn to, make delectable treats that even people with normal, non-angry digestive systems would enjoy.

So here’s what I did:

I took the Martha recipe, cut it in one-third, subbed weirdo flours (white spelt and coconut flour) for the normal all-purpose and cake business, tweaked the liquids and the leaveners, and guess what?

THE RESULT WAS DELICIOUS. I actually wish I had a better word than delicious because I say things are delicious all the time and even though I do eat a lot of delicious foods, these cupcakes…they were sublime.

I couldn’t believe it. I am still scarred by the time I was 12 and made a chocolate cake with olive oil because I didn’t understand the flavor the olive oil would impart vs. regular vegetable oil and my entire family refused to eat it. As much as I’d like to think I was being forward-thinking in my culinary ambitions, the truth was, I screwed up and learned that you can’t just substitute things in baking and expect it to work.

It was a good lesson.

And all the more reason why I was absolutely gobsmacked – GOBSMACKED! – by the result of these Strawberry Cupcakes.  

Let me be frank: I’m no cupcake expert. I don’t make cupcakes all the time. Cupcakes, while tasty, are not my “thing.” But I loved the idea of making cupcakes for my friends for the Valentine’s Party I was throwing, and Strawberry Cupcakes seemed just perfect.

And in the end, they were.

Kate's Perfect Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry "Ice Cream"  Frosting 

inspired by Martha Stewart Living and The Pastry Queen Christmas

1.  These cupcakes are not gluten-free, just wheat-free. I seem to be able to still tolerate spelt, and by God, I’m going to eat it for as long as I can. But spelt has gluten. Not a lot of gluten, but gluten nonetheless. So be warned.

and 2. It's called Strawberry "Ice Cream" frosting because - you guessed it - it tastes just like strawberry ice cream. Killer.

Makes and frosts 36 cupcakes 

(I'm giving you the full recipe and not the fuzzy-math version as I just made full batch last night for the people at work and the quantities are much, much more normal.)

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2 3/4 cups white spelt flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill & measure using dip & sweep method)

3/4 cup coconut flour (same deal: used Bob’s and dip & sweep)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups very finely chopped strawberries

3-4 drops red food coloring, optional (you may want to add this as the fresh strawberries have the peculiar quality of turning the batter a bit blue-grayish)

Frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

2 teaspoons Grand Marnier (or you can sub vanilla extract, in a pinch)

3-4 drops red food coloring (optional)

6-8 large strawberries, stemmed, hulled, and pureed

8 ounces mascarpone

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. 

 

2. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, followed by the egg yolk, beating after each addition. You may need to scrape down the bowl in between additions.
 

3. Reduce speed to low. Mix wet ingredients (milk and vanilla extract) in a bowl or pyrex liquid measurer. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry.
 

4. Add strawberries and food coloring and mix until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl to be sure. 
 

5. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

 

 

6. Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.
 

7. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, make the frosting.  Combine the butter, cream cheese, and confectioner's sugar with a hand mixer on high speed until fluffy. Blend in Grand Marnier. Add the strawberry puree and mascarpone and mix on low to medium speed until incorporated. Warning: if you overbeat the mascarpone, you'll cause it to curdle! If you are nervous about this, put the hand mixer down and use a wooden spoon to combine the mascarpone with the frosting mixture.
 

8. Frost the cupcakes using a table knife or pastry bag fitted with a wide tip. Add a strawberry bit on top of each cupcake if you want.
 

Frosted cupcakes will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. 

In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb (I Hope)

It's Spring. It could not have come at a better time, really.
Personally and professionally, this winter has really kind of sucked.

But that's ok, because Spring is here now.

I've been conspicuously absent from my blogging duties this year. I know. I'm sorry. I've made a bunch of new things and taken a LOT of pictures and begun writing a bunch of draft posts but haven't had the time to actually get anything out there.

I swore I'd fix that this weekend. Spring cleaning my camera and all that.

I recently picked up what I know think is my new favorite cookbook, The Pleasures of Cooking for One, by Judith Jones. Even though she has created the recipes to be the perfect size for a single person, they're all easily multiplied and she does an amazing job explaining how to best use all those leftover ingredient quantities in "second and third rounds" to make food that doesn't taste as if you've been eating the same meal repeatedly all week.

She's my hero. And no surprise that the recipes are great, and lovely to read. If I were buddies with Lidia Bastianich, Julia Child, and Madhur Jaffrey, and had spent my lifetime editing their cookbooks, I like to think I'd have picked up a few handy kitchen tips as well.

I have a feeling I'm going to end up making just about every recipe she has in here but when I read the eggs benedict recipe, I knew I had to try it. The whole concept of a single serving of hollandaise was too magical to pass up.

Unfortunately, I failed at hollandaise for one.

Attempt 1:

This is what we call "curdled egg yolk." It's actually pretty tasty...but not exactly a "sauce." More of a spread, really.

Attempt 2, using a double boiler, fared slightly better at first...

Pay no attention to all the semi-cooked yolk around the sides of the bowl.

...until the sauce broke upon the last addition of butter. 

The egg and the butter are separating. Serious frowns.

At which point, I resorted to emergency tactics by squirting in a bit of mayonnaise to re-emulsify things. Which sort of worked. I mean, it worked well enough for serving myself. Good thing no one else had to eat this!

Almost creamy...almost.

After the additions of a little meyer lemon juice and salt, the sauce at least tasted right, even if it wasn't all fluffy and creamy as it should have been.

Deep breath. To paraphrase Kelly Clarkson: what doesn't kill me makes me a better cook.

Time to assemble brunch:

Half an English muffin. (HUGE shout out to Rudi's Organic Bakery for making 100% Spelt English Muffins! Love you guys!)

A bit of ham. This is smoked ham from the Whole Foods Deli. I just asked them to give me a single thick slice. The trimmed bits are in the fridge and I'll probably dice and throw them into some kind of saute of greens later this week.

Nothing says spring like asparagus. I steamed two (fat) spears and then sliced them lengthwise, since they were so thick.

Added a poached egg using my microwave trick.

Poured the sauce over the top.

Added a little paprika for garnish, sliced a few strawberries, and voila!

To complete this semi-serene brunch, I put on Debussy's Clair de Lune, which I just can't get enough of right now, for some reason. Here's the track:




Happy Spring!

A Real Crowd Pleaser

Back when I was living in Boston, my friend Cara started dating this guy, Coley, whom she met at a wonderful below-street-level bar called "The Last Drop" while we were all out one night for post-work drinks. (Now they’re married and have a beautiful daughter, but I digress.) Coley wasn’t, like, a professional chef or anything, but he’d built a repertoire of a few recipes for football Sundays that impressively included a marinated brisket and what he called “Crowd Pleaser Dip” which was basically a Mexican 7-Layer Dip straight out of the 1980s. He was right - I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like this stuff.

Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, here’s my own rendition of this classic dip. May your crowds be pleased and your Super Bowl squares be winners. 

Kate’s “Crowd Pleaser” Mexican 7-Layer Dip

Ingredients:

1 can of Amy’s Refried Black Beans (accept no substitutions)

2 cups (ish) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 recipe Kate’s Guacamole

2 cups (ish) shredded pepper jack cheese (or regular Monterey jack if your guests can’t take the heat)

1 small (2.5 oz.) can sliced black olives – the cheap ones – drained and patted dry

2 cups (16 oz.) fresh salsa (heat level is your call), drained to remove most of the liquid

 extra chopped cilantro and cheese for garnish

For serving: A bag of sturdy tortilla chips (I like Mi Casa, if you can find them. Honestly, though, Tostitos are totally fine if you don't have a good local brand.)

Directions:

Locate a glass pan. I love when it’s glass because you can see the layers. This dip can be made in a pie plate, a glass baking pan, whatever. It doesn’t have to be glass. You can honestly just make it on top of a plate. I used a 11x7 glass baking dish.

Spread the refried beans in the pan with a table knife or metal spatula.

Sprinkle the cheddar on top, kind of evenly.

Spread the sour cream on top of the cheddar. This can be kind of tricky as you don’t want to disturb the cheese or end up with cheese on top of your sour cream. We’re trying to layer here. Channel your best circa-2006 Olsen twin and LAYER.

Spread the guacamole over the sour cream.

Homemade guac MAKES this dip what it is. Don't buy that citric-acid laden prepackaged stuff. Please. For me. Make your own.

Sprinkle the pepper jack over the guac.

Sprinkle the olives over the pepper jack.

Dollop the drained salsa over the olives and spread to cover the pan.

(Forgot to take a picture!)

Sprinkle additional cheese and cilantro on top.

Serve with chips. 

Oh Nuts.

Someone told me recently that people are more emotional on airplanes than they are in regular on-land life because of effects from the altitude and pressurized cabin.  I think I believe it. I’m much more likely to cry at a particularly compelling novel (or magazine article) at 30,000 feet. Not that I don’t do that on land. I mean, I get teary at television commercials. There’s a reason I work in the business. I like to think it’s because I’m highly empathetic…but maybe I’m just a great, huge sap. 

Anyhow, here I am on another airplane, composing yet another overdue blog post. Channeling emotions and all that. I got upgraded, and I’d be lying if I said the free wine wasn’t helping. 

The other day, by which I mean several weeks ago, I was tasked with making dessert for a dinner party in honor of some good friends from college who were in town. 

Lately, dessert presents a bit of a problem. In addition to needing to limit sugar, regular flour is not an option. (Ugh.  I decided to rebel and I ate a flour burrito tortilla a few weeks ago and I really, really regretted it. I won’t get into details – let’s just say the reaction was...systemic. Lesson learned.) As if the sugar-flour thing wasn't tricky enough, many winter-seasonal fruits are also not an option. And last time I checked, it was still winter. Basically, I've got chocolate and nuts on my side. And cream. 

I don't know if maybe you have picked up on this but sometimes I like to make things as hard for myself as possible. I will always pick a near-impossible challenge over a moderate challenge. The more impossible something seems, the more I want it and the harder I try.  

Yes, this might have something to do with why I'm currently single. 

As if figuring out what dessert to make wasn't challenging enough with those restrictions, Kristin and Chris were bringing fresh ravioli to the table and I thought it would be nice to have an Italian-ish dessert. 

After combing several cookbooks and sites, I happened upon this Chocolate Almond Torte recipe from Bon Appetit.

That's right. I found a chocolate flourless cake that didn't seem like it would cook up into a giant piece of fudge. This felt like what I imagine hitting the jackpot would feel like, except that has never happened to me, so I don't really know. 

And I got excited. 

Kate's Chocolate-Almond-Orange Torte

adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 12ish 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups blanched slivered almonds
1 cup sugar
8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) chocolate, chopped
5 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt

Man, I love zest. Almost as much as I love my Microplane grater.

Topping: 

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier 

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Combine almonds and 1/3 cup sugar in processor. Blend until almonds are very finely ground. 

Transfer almond mixture to medium bowl; do not clean processor. Add chocolate and 1/3 cup sugar to processor.  Blend until chocolate is finely ground but not beginning to clump, about 45 seconds; stir into almond mixture. 

Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in large bowl until mixture falls in heavy ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. 

I swear it was a "heavy ribbon," not a "sad drip" but I just couldn't capture it on the camera.

Beat in almond extract and lemon peel. Fold in chocolate-almond mixture, then butter.

Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites and salt in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. 

Stiff peaks!

Fold whites into chocolate batter in three additions. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Yeah. The batter looks pretty gross. Have faith.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 40 minutes.

Cool cake completely in pan on rack. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; store at room temperature.) Cut around pan sides to loosen; release sides. 

Combine cream, Grand Marnier, and granulated sugar and whip until soft peaks form. Dollop on individual slices of cake, or, if your sous chef is a 3 year old, let her "frost" the cake. 

Forgot to snap a pic before we served everyone. Oops.

There you go. The only thing I will do differently next time will be to grind the almonds even finer. This was a little...toothy. 

How Whole Foods Screwed Me. Again.

Sometimes I happen upon a recipe that looks so good, I know, I just know, I have to go home and make it the same night. That happened today.

I subscribe to a lot of magazines. I like to read them on planes. And I seem to find myself in lots of planes. I also like to read them on the bike at the gym. Ideally, I also have music in my ears and a tv to glance up at while reading my magazine on the bike. I need lots of distractions when I'm working out. I honestly don't understand the people I see by Crissy Field who are running without music. Is James Earl Jones in their heads, reading them a story?

When I say I subscribe to "a lot" of magazines, I mean about eight. Or ten. Maybe twelve. I'm not sure how many. Lots. Fewer than I have pairs of shoes, more than I have umbrellas. This morning on the bike I was reading Sunset Magazine which sometimes makes me feel middle-aged, but I have to admit, I kind of love reading articles about "how to live in the West." I live partly vicariously through the bounty of gardening articles...oh, someday, someday this wannabe farm girl will get to plant stuff that's not in a pot.

This morning, I ran across a recipe for the rather dully-named "Thai Chicken and Noodle Curry." I swooned. It had those great big noodles - rice noodles! - that I love. And Panang curry paste. And coconut milk. I practically drooled on the bike console.

I was so excited about making this recipe that I actually had the magazine opened to the big glamour shot of my intended dinner all day while I was at work. 

I think I may have temporarily been in love.

This was taken at home, obviously. My desk at work isn't black granite, nor does it feature an orange colander. What it actually features is a light maple-esque laminate and a LOT of PowerPoint decks and scribbled notes.

I bolted from the cable car at Van Ness with a spring in my step, and not just because I had the pleasure of sitting next to a woman who had clearly imbibed a significant quantity of beer, perhaps an entire keg, earlier in the day. Trust me, I went to Duke and Kellogg. I am well familiar with the smell of stale beer on someone's breath. Yuck.

I had my list all prepped, I found a basket, I was ready to shop. Veni, vidi, vici. Or so I thought.

And then Whole Foods screwed me.

I am, most of the time, incredibly grateful that I live only a block from a clean, well-lit, orderly grocery store that has lots of local produce, lots of organic and sustainable products, and a really fine selection of cheese. That said, it drives me NUTS that I often can't find what I am looking for at Whole Foods. Have you ever noticed that the checkout people at Whole Foods never, ever ask if "you found everything ok?" Yeah. That's because NO ONE ever finds everything there. Tonight was a classic example.

Here was my list (truly, this is copied and pasted from the "Groceries" note in my phone):

Chicken
Wide rice noodles
Panang curry paste
Coconut milk
Fish sauce
Thai basil
Green beans
Carrots

Here are all the things on the list I was unable to buy at my local Whole Foods:

Chicken - Ok, this isn't Whole Foods' fault, entirely. I decided to use shrimp instead of chicken. However, they did not have the shrimp I was looking for, so only half a point for them.

Wide rice noodles - Nowhere to be found. I ended up using rice I had at home, totally deflating my dream of wide noodles, which I love. Oh, I have already mentioned that?

Panang curry paste - Not even close! I settled on a green curry paste, but I really wanted Panang. Sad.

Thai basil - Ha. I know, I'm a comedian. Did I seriously think Whole Foods would have Thai basil? No. I bought regular basil. Eh, whatever.

You'll notice that it's hard to make a Panang curry with wide noodles without, oh, the curry or the wide noodles.

Sigh.

I'm not even close to being an expert in Thai cooking and all these substitutions were making me a little nervous. Because in addition to the ingredients that Whole Foods didn't have, I decided to also add vegetables to the recipe and remove the garlic and shallots called for in place of the green part of some scallions which fit the bill because I had them at home and I can eat them without getting sick. That is what we call a two-fer.

Yeah. So I was nervous. Then I realized that I was only cooking for myself and so it was totally ok to cross my fingers and make this up and if the end result sucked, well, I've got a box of Annie's wheat-free Mac & Cheese in the cupboard. Let's do this.

Kate's Thai-ish Shrimp Green Curry

Adapted with many liberties from this recipe.
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 zucchini, trimmed and sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup sliced scallions, green parts only
1 heaping tablespoon green curry paste
1 cup coconut milk, divided (I used the light kind, which worked fine, but if you are up for the fat, get the good stuff)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons  lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce, ideally reduced-sodium
1 1/2 teaspoons Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce
8 ounces shrimp, peeled, and deveined if you're fussy
1/2 cup cilantro leaves and small sprigs
1/2 cup Thai basil* leaves and small sprigs
1 lime, cut into wedges

Accompaniment: basmati rice


Directions

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Steam or boil the green beans and zucchini until they are cooked but firm.  Drain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a large (10") frying pan over high heat. Add scallions and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add  curry paste (watch out, it splatters!), and half the coconut milk. Stir well to dissolve paste and boil until liquid is slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. 

Scallions, soy-fish sauce concotion, green curry paste, all ready for the pan.

  3. Stir in remaining coconut milk, the sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, and fish sauce, then bring to a boil. Add the shrimp, reduce heat and simmer until liquid is slightly thicker, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Raw shrimp!

Add the vegetables and stir or toss gently to combine. Continue reducing the sauce for another minute or two, until the shrimp are cooked through. (Forgot to take a picture - sorry!)

4. Sprinkle with a generous dose of cilantro and basil. Serve over rice, with lime wedges.

And that was dinner. And you know what, it was actually pretty good!
Which is lucky for me because it's also "Tuesday lunch".

Ok, maybe the chopsticks aren't totally traditional, but I liked how they looked with the placesetting. And I was feeling dexterous.