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Nigella's Paprika-Toasted Potato Skins and Their Mashed Pulp

Nigella says: "This guacamole doesn't include the tomatoes you sometimes find in it. It makes such a difference--it's fresh and sharp, but instead of the usual mush, you end up with a perfect buttery-yellow and jade clay." Nigella Lawson, Serves 6

Guacamole

3 ripe avocados
scant tsp salt
juice of 3-4 limes to taste
4 Tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1/2-1 fresh green chili, or to taste, minced
4 scallions (white and green parts), sliced thinly

Get everything, bar the avocados, prepped when you get home. Just before you want to eat, peel and stone the avocados and put the flesh in a bowl. Don't worry about how you do it and how pulpy you make the avocado, as it will be mashed. Dissolve the salt in the lime juice and pour it over. Then add the other ingredients and mash with a fork until you have a rough lumpy mixture. At all costs avoid turning it into a smooth purée; by its nature the avocado will be smooth anyway, but you want as many soft but form-holding clumps as possible.

Potato Skins

9 medium baking potatoes
1 1/4 cups milk, warmed
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 heaping tsp fine sea salt plus more
freshly milled black pepper
whole nutmeg
1 heaping tsp paprika
4 tsp olive oil

Bake the potatoes for 1-1 1/4 hours in a 400 degree F. oven or until the skins are crisp and the flesh soft. Take them out of the oven but leave the oven on. Halve the potatoes lengthwise and with a spoon, scoop out the innards into a bowl, leaving a thin layer lining the skins. When all the potatoes have been emptied into the bowl, mash with the milk, the butter (add more if you like, or less, for that matter), salt, pepper, and freshly ground nutmeg to taste. Put aside to reheat and serve later.

Halve the skins again perpendicularly to your work surface, so you have 4 long "boats" per potato. Mix the paprika with the heaping teaspoon of the salt. Pour the olive oil into a bowl. With a pastry brush, dab the skins on both sides lightly with oil (use more if needed) and then sprinkle the salt mixture over the interior of the skins. Put in the oven and bake another 12-15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and, when cool, arrange on a couple of plates.

Casa Dragones Guacamole

Angela Tovar Morales, a cook at La Casa Dragones—the home of Casa Dragones Tequila in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico—gave us the recipe for her classic guacamole with fresh tortilla chips. For the best results, she suggests making it in a molcajete, or mortar and pestle. From: Saveur MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS

¼ cup finely chopped white onion
2 tbsp. minced cilantro
4 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt, to taste
3 ripe avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1" chunks
1 plum tomato, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Tortilla chips, for serving

1. In a large bowl or molcajete, combine onion, cilantro, chiles, and garlic; sprinkle heavily with salt, and mash with a fork or pestle into a chunky paste.

2. Add avocados, tomato, and lime juice, and stir to combine, mashing some of the avocado slightly as you stir. Season with salt, and serve with fresh tortilla chips.