What I Ate? - Everything.

They say that a goldfish will eat itself to death if provided with an unlimited food supply. Apparently, me too. This weekend was a festival of dining out and gluttony and wine overconsumption; my only meal at home was a snack of leftover dumplings on Saturday afternoon. There are no photos, and I do not wish to bore you with a recitation of all my meals.

Let me just say that if you go to It’s a Dominican Thing, you should have Un "Chin" de Todo (a little of everything – the appetizer sampler for 2) and Chicharron de Pollo de Rafaela (Rafaela’s perfect fried chicken chunks). If you go to Gnocco, I highly recommend the homemade tagliatelle with fennel and sausage ragu. Mmmmm. And the puffy gnocco appetizer. And the pizza. Really, probably anything. Scrumptious.

But the weekend of gluttony finally came to a wine-soaked end, and tonight I returned to my kitchen to scrape together some marginally healthy dinner for the two of us. By chance, I happened to have all of the ingredients for one of my favorite soups!

I’m generally not a soup eater – the lovely folks at Hale and Hearty do great work and I patronize them often at lunch – but I do love an occasional special soup on a random weeknight. This one is my absolute favorites. It is hearty and light at the same time (if that is possible?), it is spicy and comforting. I adapted an epicurious recipe…

Spicy Thai Chicken Rice Soup

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste
3 small garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 (1-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried coriander
1 bunch whole fresh cilantro, washed and big stems chopped off
1/2 cup jasmine rice
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into dice-sized pieces
1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk, stirred well
1 16 oz package of whole frozen spinach leaves
1 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp salt

Add stock, water, curry paste, garlic, ginger, coriander, and whole cilantro leaves to a big pot, simmer for 15 minutes.



Strain out stuff and put broth back in pot. Add rice, simmer 15-20 minutes. Add chicken, simmer for 3-5 minutes, add spinach, coconut milk, and fish sauce, simmer for 3 more minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and salt. Serve!