Zahirah's World » guacamole

Starters

Holly — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:50:18 +0000

Here’s how we started off tonight’s dinner. I had been wanting to take a photo of the hummus, but didn’t do it in time for my post. So here goes:

Not the best lighting. But I love these little dishes for appetizers, olives, goat cheese cubes, whatever.

Dinner with guests: the menu

Holly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:49:07 +0000

I’ve learned it’s easiest (and least stressful) to plan meals that I can prepare in advance, and leave just one dish to do right before the guests arrive, usually the main course.

Tonight, we’re having:

Guacamole and Hummus, for starters
Salad
Mixed Nut Sauce Chicken Breasts
Fruit Salad, for dessert

The chicken is based on the Almond Sauce Chicken Breasts recipe at AllRecipes.com. I’ll post my substitutions and alterations tomorrow, after I know what I’ll be doing with the recipe. I tend not to plan things, just choose a recipe and change it as I’m preparing the dish. I always print out the recipe, and make notes on it as I change things, so I can remember them in the future.

The fruit salad is pretty basic, because it’s still spring and there’s not too much variety in fruit yet. This one has: strawberries, blueberries, peach, and banana. It’s marinating in freshly squeezed orange juice now. No sugar or honey added.

Here’s the deal with this menu: It’s not even 5 p.m. and I’ve already finished the guacamole and fruit salad. The hummus I had already prepared. So all that’s left to do is the salad, which I can do a couple of hours before the guests arrive (with dressing also prepared and set aside), and the main course, which I will start about a half hour before the guests are supposed to be here.

Enjoy!

Update: Oops! I forgot…I’m also making a loaf of bread, but I still haven’t decided what kind yet.

Guacamole

Holly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:41:29 +0000

I hesitated posting this recipe, because it’s so basic. But there are so many odd versions out there that include funky ingredients I’ve never seen any Mexican include in guacamole. And after living in Mexico for eight years, I think I’ve eaten enough guacamole to know what goes in it. Or what I want to see in it.

So here goes, ingredients:

4 Avocados, mashed. Preferably the Hass variety (the smaller, black, lumpy ones)
2 Tomatoes, diced
1/2 small Yellow onion, diced
1/3 bunch of Cilantro, finely chopped
Juice on one lemon, freshly squeezed
Salt, to taste

Preparation:

I usually start out by mashing the avocados, adding the lemon juice, then mashing again to mix. Then I add the rest of the ingredients.

Cilantro is an absolute must. In my opinion, it’s not guacamole if there’s no cilantro involved. But if I’m serving for a group and I know there will be people who refuse to eat cilantro, I’ll set aside some of the guacamole for them and then add cilantro to the rest.

Another tip: always make more than you think is necessary, or more than you think can be physically consumed by the quantity of guests you will serve it to. It will be gone before you think, and there’s nothing worse than running out of guacamole.

Enjoy!

Guacamole Lesson

Holly — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:43:07 +0000

One thing I learned last Saturday at the ill fated soccer game was that guacamole is a hit in this country, or at least among our friends and family. I bought four avocados and only used three, because they were enough to make this huge bowl of guacamole. It was gone so fast, I wished I had made more. There was plenty of food, but still…the guac ran out first. The avocados have been AMAZING lately.

Lesson learned: always make more guacamole than appears to be necessary. Don’t hesitate.

Monday’s lunch: Chicken-Veggie Stew-Thing

Holly — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:31:49 +0000

So after a weekend of heat and sun, winter returned and it’s cold and rainy today. I thought it was the perfect day for soup! Though what I made actually turned out more like stew.

I based it on this recipe and in reality, it had the following ingredients:

1 Green Onion
1/2 small yellow Onion
Olive Oil
1 large Potato, cubed (and NOT peeled, I never understood the point of peeling potatoes)
2 Chicken breasts, boneless & skinless and cubed
Fresh mixed veggies
5 Mushrooms
520 gm. package of Tomato puré
fresh Parsley
Crushed red pepper flakes
Sesame and poppy seeds
Salt, Pepper

Started out by sautéeing the onions (green and yellow) together in the olive oil with salt. Then I added the potatoes and covered them with water. Added the chicken breasts. Then I added everything else, making sure it was all covered with liquid. Then I covered and let it cook on its own.

Strangely, I served this with fresh guacamole that I made, because I found fresh cilantro at the veggie store and it was the perfect excuse for fresh guac. Because I’ve been making it without cilantro, and guacamole just isn’t guacamole without cilantro.

Yum!

It was all really tasty, but we had to open the sliding door to our balcony because it actually WASN’T cold enough for this dish. And in the end, it was more of a stew than a soup, because it was very chunky and thick and not watery like a soup.