Chilli Christmas

Alex and Joe, my two sons, arrived on this afternoon for our belated Christmas.  I had a few beers with them and Sam whist the chilli was on the go for the evening feast and we waited for The Woo to get back from Cath's.  Once she arrived and Annie and Ben turned up there was a bit of festive pressie swapping prior to supper.  Annie and Ben left to do a bit of shopping and take Jack home then she came back for a bit of food and (much more!) drink.

During the afternoon I'd rustled up a decently hot chilli which had two scotch bonnets hidden deep inside and we had this with some turmeric vegetable rice, guacamole,  salsa and soured cream.  On the side we had a cheesy nacho sort of thing just to use up some tortilla chips.

The guacamole was a fairly standard offering; three mashed up avocados, a couple of cloves of garlic that had been finely chopped, a little olive oil to loosen things up, the juice of a lime, a little chopped coriander and a touch of seasoning.  All mixed together and left in the fridge for an hour or so to let the flavours develop.

The salsa is one that I have made for years and hasn't changed even slightly in all that time.  I made a large bowlful as there were a few of us but you can cut the measurements down to suit you.  This one was enough for the seven of us.

Into the bowl went four finely chopped (everything in this dish needs to be finely chopped and the end result is well worth the time) plum tomatoes which had been de-skinned and deseeded.  Next a large red onion, a couple of garlic cloves, two red chillies, also deseeded, and the juice of a lime.  A good handful of chopped coriander, a decent pinch of salt and pepper and enough olive oil to get things moving and it was job done.  Don't overdo the oil; you want just enough to lubricate the salsa and help get the flavours going but not too much as to make it really gloopy...and yes, it is a real word...ask Phoebe!

This was clingfilmed and into the fridge for a good couple of hours.  It needs to have at least this long in the fridge to get really tasty - trust me.

It went really well with the chilli but is also a great favourite at barbecues where it's a delicious accompaniment to any grilled meat or fish.  It keeps well in the fridge for a day or so but any longer and it gets a bit tired looking (and tasting).  If you like it as much as we do there's never any left anyway!

After supper the google drinking game started and everything rapidly degenerated; I was in my usual starring role as stupidly grinning drunk by the end of proceedings!