Ready, Set, Cook!
I'm sure you are all familiar with the show Iron Chef. It is where two chefs battle it out in a competition of skill and creativity. They each have to cook, on the spot, a completely original meal, from scratch, that includes a previously unknown secret ingredient (which can be anything ranging from strawberries to squid). Anyway, as I have been cooking more and more and refining my mad culinary skillz, I have decided that for 2010, I am taking on sort of an Iron Chef challenge each month. In layman's terms: I am choosing an unusual supermarket item and making a totally new recipe with it. The only caveat is that in my case I get to cheat. Big time. I get to research an actual recipe in which to use the ingredient. No flying totally blind for me- I know my limits :) The only rule is that it can't be a recipe for something I have ever made before- I going for recipes that are totally original. And away we go!
Iron Chef January
Secret Ingredient: 1 can Coconut Milk
Recipe: Coconut Rice with Black Eyed Peas and Avocado Salsa
Nope, that recipe title is not a misprint! When I saw it, I knew it was destiny. Seriously, I could not think of three ingredients that belong together less than these. But as the recipe author said himself when explaining this dish, "Give it a shot! Great flavors come together to become more than the sum of its parts!" Well, okay then.
It did have 9 reviews, all of which gave it 5 stars and raved about how good it was. I guess we will just see about those five stars, won't we now??
So here it is completed and I have to say it was surprisingly good! The coconut rice was not really that coconutty to me. I was expecting it to be very tropical, but it was very mild. However, when it hit some of the lime juice in the salsa, it did seem a little more powerful. Anyway, my advice is to double the avocado (because avocado is wonderful) and then add lots of cheese, maybe even some cheese whiz because for some reason it totally compliments the flavors. Plus, the BEST part of this recipe is that you can eat pretty much all of it and not feel guilty. It doesn't even have any meat! Which I wasn't even sure I was allowed to make a meal that doesn't have meat in this house. But we are all still alive :) Overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars and I'm already way excited about February, as my secret ingredient is very "appropriate", shall we say. Stay tuned....
1 comment:
My hubby is a better cook than me and he shook his head saying you should have gone with a curry recipe. Apparently he says coconut milk would make curry awesome!!
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