ANOTHER TEA PARTY, II

EASY SALSA WITH AVOCADO
                                                     

Instead of a regular salad I opted for salsa. I thought it was better than the regular mixed salad, mainly because of the fine chopped vegetables and the fact that I can serve it with some store bought scoop chips. It is very refreshing, and your guests can scoop it with the chips as a dip.

It was a big success and everybody asked for the recipe. You'll need:

5 medium firm tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 chopped green bell pepper

2 tbsp diced red onion

1/2 cup minced cilantro

2 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp each cumin and salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 avocados, ripe, but firm

To seed the tomato, simply chop off the top, where it has the green vine, and apply a little pressure on the tomato to push the seeds out. Start chopping from the top. If you find some more seeds in the lower part, press again to push them out and continue chopping. I usually peel the bell pepper with a vegetable peeler to remove the fine transparent film or skin. This is what make bell pepper hard to digest for some people, including me. Chop the pepper the same size as the tomato. As  for the onion, I usually let the red onion sit in some hot water for a few minutes before chopping it. Why? I discovered that some red onions are very strong, and that when "rinsed" in hot water for a couple of minutes, they become sweeter and lose the strong flavor, the pinch that sometimes can ruin your dish, especially if it is a raw sauce. Also instead of chopping by hand, I pulverize the onion in my little chop-chop, so that nobody gets a big chunk of onion under his tooth. 

Mix all the ingredients, except the avocado, in a bowl, cover it with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, add the avocado. Cut the avocado in half, with a knife trace 4 to 5 lines in two directions to form small squares, and then scoop with a spoon into the salsa bowl. Mix and serve. I put the bowl on a large platter and added the corn scoops on the side.

The recipe for the LENTIL DIP is on a previous blog (By special request on 9/19/12). Today I didn't add the chopped egg on top because of the vegetarian restrictions.

                                         

For the smoked salmon simply arrange the slices on a platter. I rolled the slices and arranged them in a fan pattern and added some black olives for color. 

Do the same for the beef slices.