At high school I did this horrible subject called Easy Entertaining. The idea on this cooking class was to show you how easy it is to cook for people you are entertaining for. A roast dinner, complete with bread & butter pudding for dessert plus the kitchen cleaned up all within an hour was not Easy Entertaining! Saucepans on fire, silicon paper causing toxic smoke after someone put it in the microwave, shaking with fear when showing your cooking efforts to the teacher for inspection.... ahh, the memories. Needless to say this subject left a permanent scar on me as far as what "easy" cooking entailed and scared me away from cooking for years.
If I was in charge of the subject, first lesson - making dips! Dips are so ridiculously easy, even my high school self could make them and would come away smiling.
For a Melbourne Cup barbecue this year, I decdied to make 3 very simple but tasty dips in a flash!
As I am unsure of the exact amount of dip made, I will use the size of the dip bowl in the pictures to try and explain.
Tzatziki
I like to make this dip first, as I like to put it back in the fridge for a while before serving.
Grate up half a lebanese cucumber. I chopped mine with a knife when grated, but to break up the pieces a bit smaller.
Combine in a bowl: 2 crushed garlic cloves, the cucumber and 360g of Greek style yoghurt, pepper to taste. Mix until the cucumber is evenly distributed in the bowl, then put in the fridge until serving. This also allows time for the cucumber and garlic flavours to infuse in the dip for longer.
This dip is the perfect partner for some freshly baked pita bread chips - brush some oil lightly over pita bread, add some spice mix (I like cumin and pepper), then bake in a 180C oven for 10 minutes, or until crispy. YUM.
Makes 5 bowls worth.
Hommus
Hommus, hummus, houmus... you get the idea. Its one of these. This was my first attempt at hommus after half watching a chef make it on tv. Surely I won't need a recipe!
Blend together in a food processor or good blender: 1 can of drained & washed chickpeas, 2 tablespoons of tahini, 2 garlic cloves, the juice of 1 lemon, 1/4 cup of water, 1 tsp cumin, a good dash of olive oil and salt, chilli powder and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.
Drizzle some olive oil on top with some paprika before serving
The mixture will be quite dry and may clog up. I spent a lot of time declogging my blender, but it worked out in the end!
Makes 4 bowls worth.
Guacamole
This tasty one I left until last, as avocado can change colour if left out too long and I wanted the dip to look its best! It also takes a total of 2 minutes to make.
Buy 1 avocado, which is pretty ripe (when squeezing it, it should be fairly soft, but the outside should not crack when squeezing). Spoon out all the flesh from one avocado into a bowl. combine with a dash of extra virgin olive oil, the juice of 1/2 a lime, 1 tsp of freshly chopped coriander, plus pepper & chilli flakes / powder to taste. Mash up the avocado using the back of a spoon (the softer the avocado, the easier to mash) and mix with all the ingredients until you get a consistency which you like - some like smooth, some like chunky!
Makes 2 bowls worth.
Once you start making your own dips, store bought ones just won't taste as good and you will be a hit at your friends parties for putting in the extra effort.
Good luck with your next entertaining project!
