Thai Red Curry Root Vegetable Soup

I'm back. Not that I have any real followers who care ;) We moved to Maine in October and I haven't been very inspired to type here. But I'm going to change that. 

I've struggled a bit with finding local foods here. There's no brick-and-mortar co-op in Portland proper. There's a Whole Foods, but at the moment they only have 4 or 5 local produce items. I'm unsure if that will change as it gets warmer. There is an old school buying club, but they only have a local produce order once a month. It's better than nothing though, and luckily the house we're renting has a root cellar for storage!

Last month was our first order. Here's what we got:

Yukon gold potatoes, rutabaga, yellow and red onions, celeriac, canola oil, frozen blueberries, goat cheese with kalamata olives, stew meat and ground beef.

Also once a month they partner with local business who don't necessarily sell to consumers. The first month we got whole-wheat and pumpkin-raisin bread, locally roasted coffee and mint chocolate cookie gelato. This month we're getting seaweed! Woo!

My plan is to try something called What's Fresh Fridays. My plan is to make something new and exciting on Friday and post about it here. It may be a recipe using something fresh and local, or it may be just a recipe using a new ingredient, or simply a recipe I haven't tried. I just want to keep my cooking fresh.

So this past Friday I made a spin on a soup I've made for years. The roots of the recipe are from culinary school. The chef that taught our PM Fine Dining class made it occasionally. It was a squash or carrot soup with Thai red curry flavors. I've made it over and over again at home. This time, I changed up what was in the soup a bit.

Thai Red Curry Root Vegetable Soup

2 rutabaga, peeled and diced

8 small carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

1 cup sliced celery

1 14-ounce can  "lite" coconut milk

2 cups chicken broth

Water if needed

2-4 T Thai red curry paste

2-3 T lime juice

1-2 T brown sugar

Fish sauce or salt to taste

Sliced scallions and sriracha for garnish

Put rutabaga, carrots and celery in a Dutch oven. Add coconut milk and broth. If the liquid doesn't just cover the veggies, add some water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat so the soup is simmering. Cook until the veggies are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat then puree with an immersion blender (or puree in batches--carefully!--in a blender). Add curry paste, lime juice, brown sugar and fish sauce or salt to taste. Serve with scallions and sriracha.