With the temperature predicted to hit 40˚C (104˚F) no-one was looking forward to the day last Saturday. All you could do was try and be prepared. Gary had spent Friday watering the garden while I was at work, and I purchased a few ingredients with a view to making our favourite, Caesar Salad.
Saturday dawned and it soon warmed up. Gary decided he would spend the day in the garden and would follow the shade! I decided to scrub the bathroom from top to bottom, before cleaning out the larder! As the temperature peaked at 42.2˚C (108˚F) the power failed. This is not a huge issue for us as we do not have air conditioning. The only issue was that if I was going to make the Caesar Salad, it would all need to be done using the gas BBQ, because we cook on electric induction in our kitchen. I put the Caesar on hold and come up with a more simple plan B!
After lounging for some time in the pool, I ducked inside and whipped up Olivia’s Amazing Avocado Dip, grabbed a couple of kransky and sliced them up, put some sour cream into a dish and doused it liberally with some of my chilli jam. Then fired up the BBQ on the terrace to cook the cransky slices “et voilà”, a simple, light, casual dinner by the pool.
Our son's girlfriend, Olivia, introduced us to this dip at her little boy, Samual's 5th birthday party. I couldn't stop eating it, it is amazing, delicious and even better, it is so simple to make!
- 2 ripe avocados
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 1/2 red onion
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 packet of taco seasoning
- 200 ml sour cream
- 1 packet of corn chips
-
Mash the avocado, add the juice of half a lemon and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
-
Dice the tomatoes and red onion.
-
Spread the avocado into the base of a large shallow serving bowl.
-
Sprinkle over the taco seasoning.
-
Spread over the sour cream.
-
Scatter the diced tomato and onion over the top.
-
Surround with corn chips and serve.
I like to also add a little diced cucumber along with the onion and tomato.
I'm hoping to make my own taco seasoning in future.
It seems ironic that as we sweltered, those in the northern hemisphere were also enduring extreme winter weather at the other end of the spectrum, with snow, hurricane forced winds and frigid temperatures as low as -34˚C (-30˚F).
As the next day dawned here, the temperatures had dropped, and the garden survived beautifully.
The Caesar Salad was postponed, and enjoyed as a quick easy meal, after work the next night.
Wanting to see how many of the ingredients I could source from the little providore, Graze & Harvest, where I have been doing a little work, there are only a few ingredients on the list that cannot be purchased there. Prom Cheviot was substituted for the parmesan in the recipe, and the other ingredients are always on hand in my kitchen, being sea salt, black pepper, red wine vinegar and anchovies.
Until next time…
Bon appétit! & happy gardening.
Links:
Sounds amazing but where is the coriander?
I’ve just made Olivia’s Amazing Dip. Yum. Couldn’t wait for lunch, had to dig in.
Thanks Jan, it is delicious.