It’s FOOD REVOLUTION FRIDAY, and if you aren’t on board with Jamie Oliver’s campaign to change the way Americans eat, you can read all about it here.  Sign the petition.  Help our children have a healthy future.

This bright and fresh Thai Green Curry recipe is from Jamie’s Food Revolution cookbook (that has a ton of super-delicious recipes like this one).  It’s full of spring vegetables like asparagus and snow peas, and is covered with a flavorful homemade green curry sauce.  It can be made with shrimp or chicken, or even tofu.  Once again, brilliant.

Thai Green Curry

adapted from Jamie’s Food Revolution Cookbook by Jamie Oliver

serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 stalks lemongrass, outer leaves discarded, crushed
• 4 scallions, trimmed
• 3 fresh green chiles, halved and seeded
• 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 large bunch fresh cilantro, some leaves reserved for garnish
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
• 8 fresh or dried kaffir lime leaves (optional)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, or 2 chicken boneless, skinless fillets sliced into strips
• 1/2 cup snow peas
• 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 large bunch asparagus, julienned
• 1 lime
• Chopped red chile, for garnish (optional)
• Cooked basmati rice, for serving

Directions

1. Using the heel of your hand, crush lemongrass and add to the bowl of a food processor along with scallions, green chiles, garlic, ginger, cilantro, coriander seeds, and lime leaves. Process until finely chopped. With the processor running, add soy and fish sauce. Continue processing until a smooth paste is formed.
2. Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat and add peanut/vegetable and sesame oil; swirl to coat. Add shrimp or chicken and stir and cook until no longer pink;  add curry paste, snow peas, and asparagus and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Cook until heated through, about more minutes. Squeeze lime over curry and garnish with cilantro leaves and red chile; serve with rice.

PRINTER FRIENDLY RECIPE

The thing about our kids is . . . they’re not us.  While we try to teach them to act the way we think they should, they’re spending their days trying to prove to us that they’re their own person.  Eventually I guess they completely rebel.  That’s called the teen years.  They scare me.

At least I can have a little sway over what they eat, for now.  Hopefully after their rebellious teen years they will have learned a few good eating habits.  Of course, if they don’t like it they won’t eat it, so I try to make the healthy stuff taste good enough even for the most picky.  Does it always work?  No.  But in the case of this Quick Salmon Tikka, it did.  And not only is this recipe delicious, but it’s really very easy.  You slice some salmon fillets thin, slather them with a curry paste, and saute.  Then you make a sauce with yogurt and cucumber, and serve it all over flatbread.

I found this terrific recipe in a terrific cookbook, Jamie’s Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver.  Jamie has taken it upon himself to try to change the way people eat.  Not just kids in schools, either, but adults and families as well.  In this cookbook, he challenges the person who owns it to learn a recipe from each chapter and then”pass it on” by teaching someone else how to make some of them.  The book has recipes tailored to be simple and quick, but with tons of flavor and variety so everyone can make their meals healthier.

Brilliant.

You can find this recipe on jamieoliver.com.

Ahhh, it’s March.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a time when people were more sick of winter.  Did you ever think there could be too much snow?  And the disastrous things going on with the Earth – I know we are all praying that they will come to an end soon.

In my area we have had a cold, wet winter, and though not nearly as bad as other areas, it’s all relative to what you’re used to, I think.  Even though March is always a tease – one warm day followed by a week of cold ones – at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel, the tunnel named winter.

So today I bring you some sunshine in the form of bright, lemony, and garlic-y Baked Shrimp Scampi.  This dish comes from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, her most recent cookbook.  In a fun twist on traditional scampi, the shrimp is briefly marinated and then covered in a butter, herb, and breadcrumb mixture and baked.  What you find after baking is a wonderful dish of shrimp scampi with a delicate, crispy topping.  Very different and very delicious.

From the Barefoot Bloggers February selections, this recipe can be found here.