Guacamole

My recipe for this dish could not be easier and you have to make it if you’re having my burrito / any burrito. It’s also good as a dip for… anything really; just remember to keep it chunky for some texture giving bursts of individual flavour every now and again. Smooth guacamole isn’t right, we have teeth for a reason and that’s for chunky guacamole. FACT

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  What you need:
  

  • ½ a red onion
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 chilli
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 lime
  • A bunch of coriander

  
  

  How to make it:
  

  1. I start by finely chopping the garlic and squeezing over some lime. I do this to prevent the garlic from being too overpowering in flavour. In short for garlic to take on its garlic flavour two molecules from different parts of the garlic’s cells are released to mix and react together. The longer you leave it the more cross reactions occur and the more potent the garlic flavour.  You can limit the number of cross reactions and therefore the potency of the garlic flavour by adding in an acid, in our case we add in lime juice. (I may do a more detailed scientific follow up to this at a later date with a further discussion of the similarities of onion and garlic regards to this).
  2. While the garlic is steeping in lime juice I finely chop the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Once everything is chopped I combine all the ingredients with the garlic. Using my hands I squash everything together; by using my hands I have a better control of the final texture of the guacamole.
  4. Now taste it! It’s at this stage you tailor your guacamole through adding in seasoning (salt and pepper) and more lime juice. If you like it hotter add in more chilli and if you love coriander add more of that! It’s up to you…what do you like? Comment below.

  
  

Celeriac Mash

For this recipe, in the two part Christmas recipe marathon, I have taken what was great about the cabbage dish, the cream, and applied it to another vegetable. To offset the cream here you may wish to just plain boil your cabbage on Christmas day. Despite the calorie nit picking this is a very tasty side with all the benefits of celeriac being a part of your 5 a day which a potato mash defiantly is not. So there you go another healthy recipe provided by The Hangry Cook.

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  What you need for 5 servings:
  
  

  • Half a medium sized celeriac
  • 50 g of butter
  • 50 ml of double cream
  • A squeeze of lemon juice

  
  How to make it:
  

  1. Start by peeling your celeriac. To do this you are going to have to use your knife rather than a speed peeler. Once peeled cut into largish chunks and place in a pan of salted boiling water - if the chunks of celeriac are too small your celeriac will absorb too much water and become dilute in flavour later. 
  2. Boil the root until it slides off a fork when stabbed and raised out of the water. While hot drain the water keeping some behind in a mug. 
  3. Add the root to a blender along with the butter, cream and some seasoning, now blend into a purée. If the blades are struggling to connect with the celeriac add a little bit of the water you retained earlier – this should help.
  4. Finish with a squeeze of lemon to taste!

  
  If you get chance tweet me pic of your Christmas dinner @tomjwild I would love to see what people are cooking up! Merry Christmas.

Smokey Bacon Cabbage

In light of Christmas being just around the corner I thought I would do two quick sides that I will be doing on the day. They are tasty dishes that are packed with flavour, that take no time at all to make and are suitable to go with pretty much any roast at Christmas. This cabbage dish should not be prepped in advance just whip it together while the Yorkshire puds are in the oven.  Feel free to swap out the cream (that was all I had to hand) for some crème fraîche, but only if it’s the real stuff - none of this ½ fat nonsense.

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  What you need for 3 people:
  

  • 1/2 a cabbage
  • 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon (streaky is best but back bacon will do)
  • 50 ml of cream
  • A squeeze of lemon juice

  
  How it make it:
  

  1. Dice the bacon into lardons and fry in a hot pan. Add a little oil to the pan so the bacon will cook. Fry until the bacon is beginning to crisp.
  2. While frying remove the very outer leaves of your cabbage then slice into stripes 1 cm thick. Throw the leaf slices into the pan once the bacon is crisp and toss the cabbage in the bacon fat. Fry for a further minute and now add in 100 ml of tap water and cover the pan with a lid / some tin foil. Reduce the pan temperature to a medium heat and steam until the cabbage starts to become tender (3-5 minutes).
  3. Remove the lid and increase the heat to start evaporating off any excess water. This should take roughly 2 minutes depending on how quickly it takes for your hob to get up to temperature.
  4. Mix in the cream, season and add in a squeeze of lemon juice to taste.