There is nothing wrong with using a paste. There are some very good ones out there. I use Mae Ploy and then add some fresh herbs to, well, “freshen” it up. I’ve made it from scratch decently several times before, but just the act of hunting down the ingredients and then getting them into paste form is too much of a pain in the ass to me. I start with Mae Ploy and then add fresh whatever I have around.
That’s basically what I did. I used Taste of Thailand brand, but plan on trying the other ones now that I know that method works better. Then I added some fresh grated ginger juice* and lime juice** since those have flair that only exists when fresh, and some Chili paste for appropriate fire. Then a half a can of coconut milk, and a squeeze of honey, and I quite liked it.
*standard ginger not blue ginger, cause I can never find that.
**standard limes not Kaffir limes, cause I can never find that.
Split pea and ham bone soup. Took the bone from last weekend’s ham, made the stock with that. Holy moly that’s some good stuff!
Homemade cream of asparagus soup and grilled cheese.
StG
I don’t even know what blue ginger is. None of the pastes I’ve seen have that, nor any of the recipes I’ve used. I do use galangal a lot, though, for Thai stuff. Also, AFAIK, the juice of kaffir limes isn’t used that much in Thai cooking. The leaves and the zest are more common. But, yes, what you do is basically what I do. Usually, for me, it’s lemongrass, some frozen kaffir leaves that I happen to have, some regular (Persian) lime juice, some fresh cilantro/coriander or finely chopped stems, fresh shallots or green onions, garlic, chiles, etc. That sort of thing. Whatever I happen to have around.
As a related note, is split pea soup a non-newtonian fluid? As soon as it gets cold, it turns into glue. Delicious, delicious glue.
Sorry, I’m used to people calling galangal Blue Ginger. I have since learned that it is an almost unknown name apparently, after getting many blank looks.
I was actually wondering if “blue ginger” might have been some kind of reference to galangal.
Oh my gosh, I love split pea soup. Haven’t had it in forever because the family doesn’t like it.
New meal I’m making this week, pasta e fagioli. Pretty easy to do, and I expect it will taste great.
We’re doing sandwiches and leftovers. I’m having a grilled peanut butter, bacon, and banana. My husband is having grilled ham and cheese, and the teenager is having leftover chicken and sides from last night.
Ragu of beef and boar with mushrooms, red wine, tomatoes. Spaghetti. Garlic bread in crusty boule form.
Leftover shrimp creole.
Nice. Where did the boar come from - know some hunters?
Last night was chili rubbed salmon, lime and cilantro rice, and sautéed zucchini & onions.
Tonight I’m leaning towards meatball subs if I can find the energy - we’ll see 
Nope, just frozen in my local Sprouts supermarket. It was on sale, and then all the frozen stuff was 20% off too, so it was cheaper than lamb! 
It’s from here.
Not sure yet. Going to rummage in the freezer…see what happens. I’m quite astonishingly hungry though, so thawing time - even microwave assisted - may be a bit of a stumbling block, as may oven preheating.
You know? I feel a few rounds of expedient toast coming on…
Left over curried chicken with almonds and raisins.
Oh, that sounds so much better than expedient toast.
It was a recipe in yesterday’s newspaper. Since I have a lot of Indian spices on hand, it was easy to make.
Me too: throwing a curry together is pretty standard practice in this house. Especially with leftovers. But I didn’t have any leftovers, and I was after something with a cooking time measured in seconds.