.roasted corn and avocado soup w/ crab salad.

Have you ever had one of those days...


Scratch that..

Have you ever had one of those months? We've had one of those months. We were in Ohio visiting the inlaws and when I got back home I've been working hard on Pioneer Trek stuff. Apparently, someone at church thinks my cooking is stellar enough to put me in charge of all the food for this year's youth pioneer trek. Fun times. I'm actually very excited to be part of this activity. Fingers crossed the food turns out perfect!


When we got back from Ohio, it was hot. HOT HOT HOT. It was hot in Ohio and well, that heat dun followed us back to New York. So I decided to try an experiment I've been wanting to do for awhile. Make a chilled soup.

This soup is actually two separate ones. The base is a sweet roasted corn soup, then ladled in the center is a roasted avocado soup (YES ROASTED!) and it's topped with a delicious crab salad. Love me some crab!

We'll begin with the soups:

ROASTED CORN SOUP

5 ears sweet corn, husked, grilled, and cut from cob
1-2 jalapeno, seeded, grilled, and chopped
1/2 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cumin

1 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
salt and pepper
oil

In a small stockpot, heat a little oil. When hot, saute the onion, garlic, and 1/4 tsp cumin until the fragrance is released. Add all of the corn, minus the kernels from one cob (We'll save that corn for the crab salad) and the roasted jalapeno. Heat for a few minutes and then pour into a blender. Blitz until smooth. If the soup is too thick, add a little more water. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the corn soup into a bowl, cover with saran and pop in the fridge.

Now for the avocado soup.

ROASTED AVOCADO SOUP

4 Hass avocados, grilled (or roasted)
1-2 jalapenos, seeded, grilled, and chopped
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
salt and pepper
oil

Following the same steps above, heat oil in a pan. Saute the garlic, onion, and 1/4 tsp chili powder. Scoop the flesh from the avocados and put it in a blender along with the jalapenos, sauteed garlic/onion, cream, chicken stock, and water. Blitz until smooth. Add more liquid if it's too thick. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl, cover with saran and chill.


CRAB SALAD
3 crab leg clusters
1/4 cup green onion, sliced
1 avocado, diced
1 ear roasted sweet corn, cut from cob
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 lime, squeezed
cilantro
salt and pepper

Cook the crab in a pot of boiling water. Cool in an ice bath and crack the crab, removing all meat. Put in a bowl with the remaining ingredients and mix together.


A delicious soup perfect for a hot Summer night! Enjoy!

.southwest eggrolls.

I *love* southwest eggrolls! If it's on a menu somewhere, we will order it. I have made these for years and they are always a HIT at parties. When I do make them, I usually double the recipe and freeze what I won't use so we can pop them out whenever we're having a craving.

Whether you use them for a meal or party appetizer, these will be a hit in your home, I guarantee!


Finely dice 2 Tbsp red bell pepper.


Finely chop 2 Tbsp green onion.


Take out the seeds and pith of one jalapeno pepper. Finely dice.


In a bowl, put 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chili powder, and 1/2 tsp salt.


You're also going to need 1/3 cup black beans, drained and rinsed, 1/3 cup frozen corn, and 1/4 cup frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed to remove water.


Cook and finely chop up 1 chicken breast.


And grate 1 cup cheese. I use half cheddar, half monterey jack.


Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a skillet. Add the peppers and onion to the pan and sautee for a couple minutes. You want the peppers to be a little soft.


Add the chicken.


Add the corn, beans, and spinach. Cook this until the spinach is completely broken down and evenly dispersed in the pan.


Add the spices and mix well.


Finally, add the cheese. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the cheese in. It will melt and coat everything.


This is what it will look like once everything has been added. Now we're reading to make the eggrolls.


Now you can use fajita sized tortillas or snack sized. If you use fajita size, you'll get 10 eggrolls out of this recipe. If you use the snack size, you'll get 5, maybe 6. Put a tablespoon full of the filling in the center of the tortilla.


Fold the outside edges in and roll up. Tack closed with a toothpick.


Repeat until all the filling has been used up.

At this stage, you can freeze them.

You want them to firm up a little before frying otherwise the centers will ooze out. I put the eggrolls on a plate and covered with a towel and put in the fridge for about an hour.


Heat oil in a skillet, wok, or whatever to 370*. Carefully lower your eggrolls in, making sure not to overload the pan. Fry until all sides are nice and golden.


Remove from the oil and place on paper towels to catch any remaining oil.

If you are frying up frozen eggrolls, the centers will most likely still be frozen. Once they've been fried, pop in a 350* oven for about 20 minutes to make sure they're cooked through.

Remove the toothpicks, and slice in half on a diagonal. Serve warm with avocado dip (recipe below).


AVOCADO DIP

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp dill weed
1 clove garlic, crushed (you don't want minced... it'll be too garlicky)
a few shakes of Tabasco sauce
pinch salt
1 avocado mashed

Mix everything together and put in a bowl. Set in the fridge to chill.

**This dip can also be made with regular ranch dressing and mashed avocado mixed together.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_103f4cr2zdd

.avocado and watercress salad.

I'm always looking for new recipes. This is one I came across a few weeks ago and bookmarked it for future use. I always seem to go for the same type of garden salad and you know... it gets boring!


There isn't a lot to this salad. It's very elegant and the dressing is super delicious.



In a bowl put 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar.
I really wouldn't substitute this with any other kind of vinegar as they each have their own distinct flavor. However, if you have a raspberry vinegar, that would probably be a very wonderful compliment.

Peel one vidalia onion and use the large grate to grate 1 Tbsp of this. I accidently grated 1/4 cup which was fine for me because I love onion. If you like onion, add more. Don't omit this entirely. If you hate onion, just trust me that 1 Tbsp would not be overwhelming and it's a sweet onion so it won't be hot.

Now you want to use the fine grate side of your cheese grater. Grate one gala apple. You need 1/4 cup of this. As you can see i didn't even bother peeling the apple. So easy!
The apple gives this dressing a slight sweetness that can't be replaced.

Add 1 tsp sugar.

And then add 4 tsp soy sauce.
I didn't get a picture of this step but add 2 Tbsp oil. Mix the dressing up well. Season with salt and pepper.

Take your watercress and clean well. I have a salad spinner so I was able to do this rather quick. If you don't have one, place on a clean towel and press the water off. You don't want wet, soggy lettuce.
Go ahead and arrange a large handful of this on your plate.

Cut one avocado in half and use a large spoon to carefully scoop the flesh out. Repeat on the other half.

Cut into a dice. Sprinkle some pieces on top of the watercress on the plate.

Make a couple thin slices of red onion. Cut into quarters and separate the rings. Spread some of the onion on top of the salad.
Spoon some dressing on top and around the plate.
Serve.
We had this with steak and the balance between the two was really nice (not eaten together though). Hopefully those of you with manly men will give this recipe a chance. You might just win him over to the inner foodie in him. :)

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_60csvzdzcv