Upside-Down Pear

One of the reasons I like keeping a variety of things around in the freezer is that it makes it easy to turn out a tasty meal even when I’m low on fresh produce. I forgot to go pick up my farm box this week, so I turned to my backup supplies.

In the fridge, I had lemongrass, Thai basil, about a cup of leftover chicken broth, the end of a bottle of Thai chili sauce, and the end of a jar of roasted chile curry paste.

In the pantry, I had potatoes, onions, garlic, and coconut milk.

In the freezer, I had chopped green bell peppers and shrimp.

Clearly, a nice shrimp and potato curry was in the offing!

I chopped the onions and garlic and lemongrass, and sauteed them with the green peppers in a little extra-virgin olive oil. I added the curry paste, chicken broth, chili sauce, and half the can of coconut milk, and let it all simmer together for a bit.

I peeled and chopped the potatoes and boiled them in salted water for 15 minutes, then scooped them into the simmering curry sauce to finish cooking. A few minutes before serving, I added chopped Thai basil and the defrosted, peeled shrimp. When the shrimp were done, so was the curry.

The only change I think I’d make in the future is that I’d put the lemongrass in as bundles; the tender part of it wasn’t quite tender enough, so we ended up picking it out in the end!

I also think that chicken chunks would work well in this, or stew beef — both would require alterations to the cooking method, though, since they’d take quite a bit longer to cook than the shrimp.