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04 June, 2011

Happy Hour Dip

At the last happy hour, I had a hankering to put together an avocado dip. I'm not particularly a big fan of avocados - I've always linked avocados with mayonnaise for some reason. I've always been of the school that if the Man upstairs wanted you to use mayo, he wouldn't have invented mustard.

So, anyway, back on track with the avocado dip. This recipe started off as a recipe from Michael Smith's website (http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Appetizer/Herbs/recipe.html?dishid=8668).

I changed it somewhat. Instead of two ripe avocados, I used six; instead of fresh or frozen corn kernals (I forgot to go back to the market), I used a can of fiesta corn that I happened to have on hand. Drain it first; I couldn't find jalapeno peppers here (no one in the market had them. Must be out of season locally). I used eight to ten healthy sprinkles of Marie Sharpe's Hot Habanero Pepper Sauce instead; I used the juice from two fresh limes that I cut in half; I used a big handful of fresh finely chopped cilantro; Instead of one small onion, I used two peeled and finely chopped medium yellow onions and didn't rinse them after chopping. I wanted the pungency front and center. I used about a pinch of salt and went fairly heavy on the black pepper.

Here's the list easier to read:
Six ripe avocado's
One can of fiesta corn, drained
Eight to ten healthy sprinkles of Marie Sharpe's Hot Habanero Pepper Sauce 
Juice from two fresh limes, cut in halves
A big handful of fresh finely chopped cilantro
Two peeled and finely chopped medium yellow onions; no rinsing
A pinch of salt and black pepper
Directions
  • Scoop the avocados and put into a large mixing bowl. If you haven't done this before, it's easy. Hold the avocado in one hand and using a sharp knife run it around the avocado from the top (where it attached to the tree, down to the pit and just run your knife on around the avocado till you end up back at the top. Put the knife down, grasp both halves of the cut avocado and twist slightly in opposite directions and pull apart. You should be able to grasp the pit and simply lift it out.
  • Take a tea or soup spoon and starting with the avocado with the narrow end of one half in your palm with the broad end pointed away from you, start scooping with the spoon in a circular motion around the broad end and just continue through the narrow end and you'll end up where you started. the meat of the avocado should just about leap out of the skin into your bowl. Then you can scrape the rest of the green stuff off the inside of the skin and put that into the bowl as well. You've got 12 chances to get this technique down, so next time,you'll look like a real pro.
  • Using a dinner fork (or whatever you want) mash the avocados until they form a smooth paste.
  • Dump in the chopped onion, corn (yes, the whole can), and the chopped cilantro.
  • Squeeze the lime halves all over the mix in the bowl. Squeeze hard and use all the juice.
  • Sprinkle the Marie Sharpe's over the mix in the bowl.
  • Season it with the  salt and pepper.
  • Now, mix it well with your fork (or whatever you used previously) so that everything is coated with the avocado paste.
Serve it to your family or group with salsa chips. It'll make enough to feed a bunch of folks and it'll be tangy and pungent without being hot.

It was a hit at our last happy hour get together. I hope you enjoy it.

1 comment:

JRinSC said...

Hrummmph... is this all you can do -- put a recipe up that sounds so wonderful but just doesn't fit in the South Beach Diet at ALL!!!

It sounds wonderful, but I am within 2 lbs of my goal so I am going to let this one just go right by. I have lost 16.9 lbs and can fit my 36" pants again. I will try it some day perhaps but not right now.

Thanks anyway (lol)

Julian