Guacamole

Guacamole is simple,tasty and whilst high in cholesterol its the right type of cholesterol.

The key thing to do is make sure that your avocados are very ripe. If you make sure of this you can't go wrong. I use a bit of my own birds eye chilli chutney (about a half teaspoon) to zing it up a bit.

Ingredients

5 very ripe avocados
1/2 teaspoon of chilli chutney (you could use Bajan Hot pepper sauce or tabasco - just make sure it is a wet chilli sauce i.e. not dried chillis or chilli powder)
teaspoon of olive oil.

Method

mash the avocados with a fork and mix the rest of the ingredients - if you like it chunky just mash a little less.

I served with warm toast.

Garlic and Artichoke Heart Dip

Garlic and Artichoke Heart Dip

I have had a tin of artichoke hearts in the cupboard for ages. Having never remembered to use them and after starting to feel a bit peckish after dinner last night I decided that the pita breads in the bread bin needed something tasty to accompany them.

This is a bit of a throw together but full flavoured.

Ingredients

3 cloves of garlic
tin of artichoke hearts
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
2 dried chillies

Method

In a food processor chop the garlic then add the tin of artichokes (drained and rinsed). Mix in the olive oil.
add the chillies (chopped)and lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

Serve sprinkled with paprika and dip with warmed pita breads.

Taramasalata

Our house could probably boast a supply of taramasalata vast enough to feed a Parthenon full of Greeks for a week. The way to avoid this is to not use too much roe (like I did). Either way if there are any suggestions of how to convert Taramasalata into something else (cos whilst it's nice there is only so much that I can take) please send them through sharpish.

Ingredients

100g cod roe
an onion
stale bread (4 slices)
50ml olive oil
paprika

Method

Start by grating the onion. I used a food processor to save my eyes. Then soak the bread (I had a left over homemade loaf which is denser than the shop bought air pumped guff) in water and squeeze out the liquid. Add this to the onion and mix i the food processor. As it is mixing add the olive oil.

Cod roe is a funny thing to handle. The roe is inside a skin/sac and can be squeezed out like piping icing.

My error was to use 5 times the roe in the recipe above, I just asked for a whole roe from the fishmonger and didn't appreciate the weight of them. You live and learn as they say.

Mix the roe into the food processor and serve. I sprinkled it with paprika and served with black olives and warm pita bread.