I'm making chicken enchilladas for a girls night in shortly - was wondering what I would serve as a side dish? Am doing stuffed mushrooms for starter and passionfruit mousse for dessert so its the side dishes I'm worried about - has anybody got any wonderful ideas please???

Sounds delightful. At an absolute minimum the chicken enchilda should be served with a side of salsa verde (mexican, not mediterranean). This would be chopped coriander, tomato, red onion, garlic, mexican oregano, salt pepper and a splash of lime juice. It complements the richness of the enchilada beautifully.

But, if you would like an independent side then I recommend a salad. I love Avocado Lime Salad, a tradition in Oaxaca. And, it's vegan so if you have any non-meat eaters attending, here's THEIR main course!

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (1 large lime)
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
6 small roma (plum) tomatoes, cut in 3/4-inch pieces (2 1/2 cups)
2 large ripe Hass avocados, cut into 3/4-inch dice (1 1/2 cups)
4 spring onions, thinly sliced (both the white and green parts)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (or more if you like the taste!)
1 head oak leaf lettuce, torn into large pieces (8 cups)
1 medium cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced diagonally (1 cup) (optional)
1/4 cup tablespoons roughly chopped fresh coriander

In a medium glass or ceramic bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons lime juice and 1 teaspoon salt. Add tomatoes, avocados, scallions and garlic. Using rubber spatula, gently fold to combine. Season to taste with pepper. In large bowl, whisk together olive oil, cumin, remaining tablespoon lime juice and 1 teaspoon salt. Add lettuce and toss. Season to taste with pepper. Divide lettuce among plates. Top each with mound of avocado mixture. Top with optional cucumber slices. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Hi TacoPete - the salad sounds absolutely gorgeous - will definitely do this. One question though, there seems to be a lot of dressing, one for the veggies and one for the lettuce - does this not make it very "wet"?? Will take your advice!

Gurg, glad you like the suggestion. No, there's not too much dressing in my opinion. It's only about 4 or 5 tablespoons in all across all the dishes. If you think there's too much just shake it off a tad as you build each plate, but I think you'll be happy as is.

Bon appetit!

Ok so wil do it as it is. Thanks so much for your help. Actually, I've another "foodie" question which you may be able to assist me with - I have a fantastic bbq sauce recipe by Barefoot Contessa and it calls for 1 cup of tomato "paste". As this is an american recipe, I'm not sure if this means puree, tinned tomatoes, passata - all very different though I think 1 cup of puree would be dreadful so we could probably rule that one out. Any idea please?

Tomato paste is just that, a "triple concentrated" puree of tomato. That's what they call it here in Australia, too.

So it is much thicker than puree, you spoon it from the can. It is an essential ingredient for most BBQ sauces as it's taste is much more concentrated than puree.

I can't believe it's not available in the UK - maybe it has a different name? Look in the tomato area and look for a box of 2 TBL sachets or small cans and it would say "triplo concentrato" on it. I can't imagine waht they would call it as it is indeed a "paste".

PS Barefoot Contessa's BBQ sauce is absoluetly brilliant! Spread it on pork spare ribs and slowly bake in the oven.

Try to find tomato puree

Hi OysterMan - I actually live in Dublin, Ireland!! And we dont have tomato paste here either. Michael - UKTV - I've tried the recipe with tomato puree and its so so very strong. I'm going to make the bbq sauce this weekend (as its a bank holiday here in Ireland and the weather is to be gorgeous). I'm going to use tins of tomatoes and boil them down to about half their size and see how I get on. OysterMan - I have actually bought spare ribs so will use the sauce with them . Thanks for everyone's help and in the meantime, if anyones knows where I can get tomato paste, please let me know.l

Have a good w/e

Gurg..a neighbour down the street is from Ireland and I posed to him the problem. He says paste is called "tomato puree" in Ireland so I think you did the recipe properly. Was it so thick you had to spoon it?

Odd that it was so "stong" but BBQ sauce is quite tomato-y I don't know what the problem might be?

Firstly, TacoPete - my dinner party was last Friday and I made the chilken enchilladas, together with your salad and it went down a treat - not a mouthful was left on any plate so thats for the help.

OysterMan - you are so good to have gone to all that trouble! I actually made Barefoot Contessa's bbq sauce again, using a tin of tomato puree and it was absolutely divine (I must have used too much when I first made it). As I only had hot chilli powder to hand, I used half the quantity recommended and am so glad that I did. I smothered the sauce all over the ribs and they were just divine. I also used the remainder of the sauce over baked potatoes - absolutely yummy!

Thanks again!