SUNSHINE COOKING WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY
It is always interesting and great fun when you cook with friends and family especially where they are kids involved. We are in the sunshine in Portugal with the sea breeze blowing up towards the house and the food we are cooking is a combined effort with everyone pitching in to help. Easy to prepare, wonderful flavours, this communal food is perfect for large gatherings. Served in large bowls placed in the centre of the table – everyone helping themselves. We’re having a fresh tomato and mozzarella salad with local olive oil and fresh basil, chicken fajitas, homemade guacamole, homemade tomato salsa, roasted new potatoes with rosemary and garlic and roasted free range chicken. The truly free range chicken bought locally earlier in the morning came in its full glory with head and everything else still attached so its left to me to prepare. I find slow cooking roasted chicken is the best for flavour and so get to work on it straight away so that it can cook away slowly while we all spend time in the sea. It has a lovely yellow colour having been corn fed. Having removed the offending pieces and cleaned it entirely I place three whole garlic cloves and half an onion (sliced) in its opening along with half a lemon; sprinkle local olive oil, fresh lemon and lime juice, sea salt, freshly milled pepper and fresh rosemary over the bird and cook it very slowly at 100 degrees centigrade for 5-6 hours. When we return home and while preparing the recipes below the oven is turned up to 200 degrees centigrade and the chicken gets a blast of high heat for a further half hour to finish its cooking off beautifully.

For the recipes below you can double the amounts for larger groups. We were a group of 11 so the amounts times two were used.

FRESH TOMATO SALSA (Serves 6)

7 fresh tomatoes (finely diced)
2 red onions (finely diced)
half clove garlic (crushed)
half crushed jalopeno pepper
pinch of cumin
juice of two limes

Combine all ingredients in medium sized bowl.

GUACAMOLE (Serves 6)

2 medium avocados, halved lengthwise (seeds removed)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 white onions (finely diced)
4 fresh tomatoes (finely chopped)
6 coriander leaves (or flat leaved parsley if you don’t like coriander)

Using a spoon, remove the pulp from the avocados and place in a medium bowl. Drizzle avocado pulp with lemon juice and, using a fork, mash it up. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

CHICKEN FAJITAS (Serves 6)

6 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (preferably free range), cut in half
200mls vegetable oil
Juice of 4 limes
1 small white onion (thinly sliced)
4 cloves of garlic (crushed first and then finely chopped)
2 red jalopeno chiles, seeded and finely chopped
8 leaves of coriander
Half teaspoon sea salt
Flour tortillas

Combine all the ingredients in a glass or ceramic dish and allow the chicken to marinate in fridge overnight preferably or for at least 5 hours. Remove chicken breasts from marinade and grill until the juices run clear when the meat is pierced with a knife. Slice chicken into thin strips. Place chicken on warm flour tortillas, add salsa or guacamole and roll. Serve with tomato salsa, guacamole and creme fraiche.