guacamole

yum. seriously! i know some people wince at the sight of the fragrant green mush, but don't knock it 'til you try it... it's extra-tasty and easy to make... come on, you know you wanna! 

guacamole

serves as many people as you're willing to share with (but a comfortable 4-6 as a snack)

3-4 ripe avocados

2 roma tomatoes, deseeded & chopped

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

4-5 spring onions, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, minced (avoid the seeds & pith if you don't want it to be too hot...)

juice of 1/4 - 1/2 lime (or you can use orange juice, to shake it up)

cilantro & salt, to taste

i usually go with the following steps, but there is no right or wrong way to make this... as long as you think it's tasty, you're good to go!

1. put the avocado in a bowl, mash with a fork 'til lumpy (but not too smooth)

2. add in everything else but the lime juice, salt & cilantro; mix well with fork.

3. squeeze in lime juice, add seasoning to taste (i don't like cilantro, so i usually dispense with it, but whatever floats your boat...)

4. serve with nacho chips! 

NOTE : make sure you don't oversalt the dip, as you're typically serving it with already über-salty nacho chips... 

lemon risotto

taken from nigella lawson's nigella bites tv show/cookbook, lemon risotto.

lemon risotto

2 fat spring onions
1 stalk celery
knob of butter (about 1 tbsp)
olive oil
1 1/3 cup risotto rice (i use arborio)
1 quart vegetable stock
lemon & zest of 1/2 a lemon
approx. 2-3 tsps dried rosemary, chopped (or the needles from 1-2 sprigs fresh)
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

step 1 : i usually start off by making the vegetable stock since it needs to be kept simmering - bring a little more than 1 quart (4ish cups) of water to a boil and add dried vegetable stock according to directions. keep on a simmer on low low heat with a ladle at the ready.

step 2 : in a large saucepan, melt the butter with a drizzle of olive oil (to keep the butter from smoking) on med-high heat. now, the original recipe says to blitz the spring onions and celery in a food processor 'til mushy, however i don't have a food processor, so i just finely chop them. same difference. throw them in the pan and cook 'til the celery's soft (about 2 min). 

step 3 : chuck the rice in with the celery and onions and mix well (the rice should be coated with the buttery oil) and stir for about 1 - 2 min. 

step 4 : now for the finnicky part : add in a ladleful of stock and stir the rice 'til completely absorbed. repeat this, one ladleful at a time until rice is al dente (roughly 20 min.) usually after about the 5th ladleful, you can let it be a little more, but always have an eye on the rice and stir quite often.

step 5 : when the rice is al dente, add rosemary and lemon zest. stir. remove from heat. stir in the mix of egg yolk, cream, parmesan and lemon zest until well blended. you can top it off with a bit of unsalted butter and salt and pepper to taste.

feeds about 4 (or 2 greedy people, depending on portion size...)

caribbean jerk chicken skewers with coconut rice

NOTE - - ok, there are no regular readers of my (very badly kept up) blog, but i felt as though i should come back to this blog and add some posts... what prompted this? a good friend gave me an amaaaazing rosé sauce recipe and i thought to myself : "huh, i should add some posts to my blog", so here is a new recipe... 

today i am going to introduce you to the wonderful world of caribbean jerk sauce. it's delicious. eat it now. (unless you don't like spicy stuff, then do not eat it.) i used president's choice blue menu pre-made sauce as i have yet to find a recipe i love for it (that and the ingredients), but use what you want.

feeds 5 hungry people

4 chicken breasts, cut up in large cubes
1 each yellow, orange and red bell pepper, cut up in 1 cm cubes
1 largeish thingy of pre-cut pineapple (in the produce section)
1/2 red onion, cut in wedges
caribbean jerk sauce (and/or other choice sauce in case you're feeding non-spicy people)
20-25 wooden skewers, pre-soaked (so they don't catch fire)
***
hob of butter
2 cups jasmine rice
2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cups h2o
salt (to taste)
optional - shredded coconut

1. marinate the chicken cubes in the sauce for at least 2-3 hours prior to cooking - overnight is best. i usually just toss everything in a plastic resealable freezer bag, squidge everything around 'til evenly coated and chuck it in the fridge 'til i need it.

2. now start the rice - melt the butter on med-high heat in a medium saucepan. once it's all melted, throw in the rice, coconut milk, water and salt. stir 'til it comes to a boil and then reduce heat to low. put on the (tight-fitting) lid and let cook like that 'til liquid's absorbed (about 15-20 min). once it's cooked, turn the heat off, stir the rice and put the lid back on - keep the pot on the burner 'til you're ready to eat (up to an hour!!)

3. k now while the rice is cooking, thread your skewers. there's no right or wrong way to do this - put as much or as little of whatever on each, but be sure to have about 1/2 inch at the top and a good 2 inches at the bottom left (to y'know, pick up and eat with). when you're done threading, put the skewers on the BBQ 'til chicken is cooked through (i'd say for room temp chicken, 10-12 mins should do it on med-high heat). another option is to grill them in the oven (i placed the skewers on my large bar pan and put that in the oven about 20 mins @ 425 fahrenheit). 
if you're so inclined, feel free to brush the entire skewer (pineapple, peppers and all) with the sauce the chicken marinated in

4. put everything on a big plate and serve to hungry hungry people! :)