My Idea Of A Sunday Dinner

I do believe that it is Sunday Dinner's in general that started me loving food. Sunday's were the one day a week that we sat in the dining room with the fancy dishes. Hollie and I learned early how to set the perfect table, and we all had our assigned seats. I sat to the right of my dad every Sunday the entire time I was growing up. Sitting to the right of your dad is a great place to sit. I would eye his plate as each item was passed. The potatoes at 12 o'clock, the meat at 10, broccoli with Velveeta at 3, and finally the carrots or yams at 6. Sunday dinners were always like this. Then the gravy was passed and the perfect sprinkling of pepper and my dad had created a masterpiece. I copied everything he did, down to the perfect pepper sprinkle. My dad's plate always looked so appealing and downright delish. My mom did a great job of having a variety of colors on the plate too. Thank you parents of mine for fostering a little food creativity into me. I will always love Sunday dinner at my mom's house.

Now that I'm the mom though our Sunday dinners are sometime a little less traditional. I do like a good Sunday roast beast and potatoes, but in all actuality there are other things I like tons more! I don't especially like mashed potatoes, or meat. I'm not a vegetarian, but to me, turkey at Thanksgiving is only a side dish. It is meant to be there for the leftover sandwiches and a token slice to be eaten very last after all the other good stuff is gone. I like other special Sunday Dinners. Yesterday was one of those days. I knew I had a hit when J kept making the comment, "This is sooooo good! Oh this is dang good Lis." I love that man. Especially when he had coconut noodle soup on his nose. It was that good.

My photo from dinner yesterday, and the photo from the magazine. I'm working on getting better.

(Now if you saw this picture as a full page photo in a mag wouldn't you start to salivate? I thought it looked absolutely beautiful. I had to make it. Thank you Bon Apetite!)

Spicy Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potato

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped shallots
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced lemongrass (from bottom 4 inches of about 3 stalks, tough outer leaves discarded)I don't use this.
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger I use a bit of ground ginger instead.
• 2 tablespoons Thai yellow curry paste
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)
• 2 13.5- to 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk, divided
• 5 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce or just salt(such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 cups snow peas, trimmed
• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled red-skinned sweet potato (yam; from about 1 large)
• 1 pound dried rice vermicelli noodles or rice stick noodles
• 3/4 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 red Thai bird chiles or 2 red jalapeño chiles, thinly sliced with seeds
• 1 lime, cut into 6 wedges

PREPARATION

• Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add next 4 ingredients; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in curry paste, curry powder, and chili paste. Add 1/2 cup coconut milk (scooped from thick liquid at top of can). Stir until thick and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add remaining coconut milk, broth, fish sauce, and sugar; bring broth to boil. Keep warm. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Refrigerate until cold, then cover and keep chilled.
• Cook snow peas in large pot of boiling salted water until bright green, about 20 seconds. Using strainer, remove peas from pot; rinse under cold water to cool. Place peas in medium bowl. Bring water in same pot back to boil. Add sweet potato and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Using strainer, remove sweet potato from pot and rinse under cold water to cool. Place in small bowl. Bring water in same pot back to boil and cook noodles until just tender but still firm to bite , about 6 minutes. Drain; rinse under cold water to cool. Transfer to microwave-safe bowl. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 hour ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
• Bring broth to simmer. Add chicken; simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add sweet potato; stir to heat through, about 1 minute. Heat noodles in microwave in 30-second intervals to rewarm. Cut noodles with scissors if too long. Divide noodles among bowls. Divide snow peas and hot soup among bowls. Scatter red onion, green onions, cilantro, and chiles over soup. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.
  
  
  **When I make this soup I saute the garlic, and shallot until soft and then I just throw everything into the pot except for the snow peas. Throw them in the last couple of minutes. You have to make this recipe a little simpler and I think it tastes just as good.

I found this recipe a few years ago in a Bon Apetite magazine. It may seem a little complicate, but if you've been to the local Asian market and bought some of the Thai staples that I've written about before, then you're set. (That would be you Angie! I know you've got $80 of Thai ingredients just waiting to be use in something. This would be a good recipe for that extra bottle of coconut milk.) The Sunday Coconut Soup was delicious. The kids even loved it. We did have to make homemade ice cream and apple crisp to top off the night, but heck it's Sunday and I don't have to diet again until Monday.