What with all the burgers, barbeques, and bread, I’ve been making a load of relishes and dips lately. These two are very quick and easy.
I packed some of these relishes into two sterilised Kilner jars and gave them to my dad as a Father’s Day gift. He was hugely skeptical of this “made-up day” but appreciated the cheap and practical present.
Guacamole
All avocados long to die in a guacamole blitzkrieg. Guacamole is good in sandwiches, as a dip for crudites (carrot and celery sticks, toast soldiers), or served in a burger with some pancetta or bacon. There’s so many variations on this; you can omit coriander and add in a pinch of toasted cumin seeds, leave out the onion and replace it with a clove of crushed garlic, or omit the chilli if you don’t like spiciness.
Ingredients
- 1 avocados, peeled and mashed
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 finely chopped chilli
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Mix it all together, season as desired.
Sundried Tomato Relish
This recipe comes from the Cornucopia cookbook, and is intended as a thick dressing for a lovely Mediterranean Chickpea Salad. But people voted with their plates: the extra dressing I’d left behind disappeared into their burgers while there was plenty of the salad left. This delish relish is great in burgers, as a dip for meats, or spread in sandwiches with some cheese and lettuce.
Ingredients
- 2-3 tsp cumin seeds
- 150ml extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
- 1 red chilli
- 75g sundried tomatoes
Instructions
Toast the cumin seeds in a pan over a medium heat for a few minutes, until they are slightly browned and releasing their aroma. Then simply blend all the ingredients together with a stick blender or in a food processor.