Lime “n” the coconut soup

December 27, 2009 at 9:46 am (Uncategorized)

I roasted a duck for Christmas dinner this year. It was great! 

But for the life of me I could not think of what to do with the carcass. I was pondering this at the diner table while everyone sat around and chatted about the desserts that I couldn’t have (ok, I was envious this time, I’m detoxing so I was actually craving “normal food” which is very unusual on the “diet”). Anyways I digress..

 I would normally just make soup with poultry bones but duck is such a strong flavor. I knew I had to use bold flavors to pull it off. My first thought was curry but I do curry too often. So here is what I came up with this morning.
 
Lime “n” the coconut soup

Ingredients

1-2 star anise
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1-2 small cinnamon sticks (depending on size)
1 tsp whole cloves
1 1/2 lbs ground meat of your choice (I love pork but I used chicken tonight)
2 quarts of duck/turkey/chicken broth (I used duck) (homemade) Directions here http://www.westonaprice.org/Broth-is-Beautiful.html
1/2  cup cilantro (chopped fine)
1/2  cup basil (chopped fine)
1/2 can coconut milk (with no added ingredients)
1 inch piece of ginger grated
5 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/4=1/2 tsp cayenne
zest and juice of one lime
1/4 cup raw organic peanuts (soaked and dried at home) for garnish
1/4 cup coconut oil, rendered pork fat or duck fat. (I saved duck fat from last night)
4 tablespoons of honey or *tamarind paste
shrimp paste (optional) (homemade if you have it)
*kelp or rice noodles (optional)

salt and pepper

veggies to roast   (your choice but this is what I did)

cabbage Chopped (green, red, napa, bok choy) 
peas (garden, sugar or snow)
2 carrots  Chopped
2 bunches of green onions sliced
2 bunches of brocoli chopped
2 red bell peppers (make sure they are organic)
3-4 zucchini’s

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees add the oil or fat to a large roasting. Let it melt in the oven. Remove it and add veggies (except garlic), salt and pepper and toss to coat.
Put veggies in the oven and roast for about 20 min.
Put the first 5 ingredients in a spice grinder and blend until fine powder.
Add oil to a large stock pot. On low heat toast spices. Add the garlic and ginger, saute for 2 minutes. Add shrimp paste, honey or tamarind paste, lime zest, half the basil and cilantro, cayenne  and saute for 1 more minute. Add all the stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Meanwhile put the ground meat in a mixing bowl, add in most of the remaining cilantro and basil (reserving some for garnish) add salt and pepper and form meat into 12 meatballs. Turn down the soup if it’s boiling. Take the veggies out of the oven and stir. Arrange all the meatballs on top on the veggies and return both to the oven. Cook until both are nicely browned all over about 20 more minutes. Add veggies and meatballs into the soup.  Cover and warm through for 10 minutes. Mix in the lime juice and coconut milk.  Season with  salt and pepper.
Serve with peanuts, a sweep of coconut milk and fresh basil and cilantro.

~~Notes~~
For my husband (who is not totally on The Gaps Diet) I added Tamari sauce (wheat-free soy sauce) and kelp noodles to his bowl. For my 3-year-old I mixed in peanut butter instead of whole nuts (he doesn’t digest them)

This would also be great with pickled veggies or julienned cucumbers on top. Make sure you use chopsticks for ambiance.  Also oven grilled pineapple with coconut lime sorbet is the perfect dessert for this meal.

* not Gaps or Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal

 Enjoy