Let the celebration begin!

Day one of our (pre) Cinco de Mayo dinners...we have Chicken and Avocado Soup, garnished with Fried Tortillas, and Tomato, Avocado and Roasted Corn Salad.

(all recipes are from the Food & Wine web site; you have to be a subscriber to read them. so, if you're interested in any of the dishes over the next few days, just drop me a line, and I'll send you the recipe!)

First, the soup.



(The recipe calls for chicken broth; we used vegetable bouillon.)

Onions sauteed in oil, in a pot. Add broth and water, simmer. To this add very thinly sliced chicken breast (or Veat!), cook two to three minutes.
To this you add a puree of avocados, lime juice, hot sauce, jalapeno pepper, and a few other ingredients. Allow soup to come to temperature. Serve, with some strips of corn tortilla, fried in oil.

My take on the soup: It was nice. I won't speak for Matt, but I personally thought it was too...mellow. I expected a bit more of a kick, or perhaps a stronger flavor, in general. This could be due to the fact that Veat doesn't really have much of a 'taste' of it's own. Like tofu, it tends to take on the flavors it's cooked with.
Still, the avocado puree was good.
If we make it again, I'll make sure to chop the onion a bit finer. I'm sipping this nice avocado-blended soup, and I get a chunk of onion...not what I want. I love the flavor of onion, but not it's texture. Again, that's just me, though.

Not a whole lot of work to make..and basically, good for you. I'd definitely say it's worth another try, with a little extra kick, next time.

And gorgeous color, eh?


Then, the salad.




I really like this salad!

Start by roasting shucked cobs of corn, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, till the kernels are browned. Cool completely, and cut the kernels from the cobs.

Toast pumpkin seeds till browned, and allow to cool.

This salad is kind of neat...the dressing is made by pureeing half the corn kernels with sherry vinegar, sugar, lime juice, and cinnamon! Toss the remaining corn with diced cucumber, red and yellow tomatoes, avocado and arugula. Then add vinaigrette, and toss. Top with crumbled queso fresco and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Pretty simple, huh?

The recipe served 12, so we cut it in half. Even then, it made a lot. But, the pureed corn 'dressing' was nice...although in the future, should I make it again, I'd add a bit more cinnamon.
The pepperiness of the arugula was set off nicely by the rest of the vegetables...and I think roasted corn is going to become a favorite of mine. Wow...that stuff has some flavor!

And again, not too difficult to prepare (unless you're also trying to manage a toddler), and fairly healthy.

Day one? B+