Ted Allen Cooks Up 'The Food You Want to Eat'

Guacamole

Yields 3 cups

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Finely chopped white onion

2 Jalapeno pepper(s), seeded and minced

2 Tbsp Finely chopped fresh cilantro

Salt, To taste

2 California Avocado(s), halved

1/2 Cup Coarsely chopped tomato

Instructions:

1. Combine half the onion, half the jalapeno, and half the cilantro in a mortar or food processor.

2. Add about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt, then grind or pulse into a smooth paste. Transfer to a serving bowl.

3. Cut avocado in half lengthwise, remove and discard pit.

4. Make crosshatch incisions in avocado pulp with a paring knife.

5. Scoop pulp out with a spoon; combine with onion mixture. Mix well.

6. Stir in remaining onion, jalapeno, and cilantro; gently mix in tomatoes.

7. Adjust seasoning with salt and serve immediately.

Grilled Shrimp with a Sesame Dipping Sauce

Do not marinate these shrimp for more than 15 or 20 minutes; after that the acid in the citrus marinade will begin to "cook" the shrimp and make them tough.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 (12 inches long) wooden skewers

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

4 teaspoons sake or dry sherry

1 tablespoon honey

1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 medium garlic clove, chopped

20 large shrimp, peeled and de-veined, tails left on

Sesame-Lime Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes)

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon grated garlic

Instructions:

1. Preheat a gas grill. Soak the skewers in water to cover while the grill heats; this will keep them from burning on the grill.

2. 15 minutes before you plan to cook, combine the soy sauce, sake or sherry, honey, sesame oil, and garlic in a bowl large enough to hold the shrimp. Stir and set that aside.

3. Stir together all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce and then divide between four small bowls.

4. To skewer the shrimp, shove the pointy end of one skewer through the fat end of one shrimp and thread the shrimp down to the bottom. Do that with another shrimp and then with 3 more shrimp so that you've got 5 shrimp on the skewer. Now take another skewer, and run it through the skinny tail ends of the shrimp, so that each shrimp is skewered in two places (thus encouraging them to lie flat during cooking) and the skewers are 3/4 to 1 inch apart. Do this with all the rest of the shrimp so that you have four double skewers holding 5 shrimp each.

5. Grill the shrimp, turning once, until they turn from translucent grey to an opaque, pink-orange color and they are lightly browned, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side. (Check the fat end of one of the shrimp -- there should be only a hint of grey in the very center.) Serve each skewer with a bowl of dipping sauce.