I'm a huge fan of guacamole. I like it with minced onion, lots of lime juice and a bit of shredded cilantro. However, when I make it at home, I'm forced to serve it in a plain old ceramic bowl. Rachel has a far better vessel for her guac, this fabulous avocado shaped bowl (complete with matching lid to help stave off oxidation).
Rachel made this batch with chopped chipotle peppers in adobo and says that it adds a smoky depth of flavor that goes perfectly with avocados. Thanks for adding your pic to the pool, Rachel!
Yesterday, I mentioned the produce anxiety I face when the summer starts to head into fall. One way I combat the unrest I experience during the waning days of peaches and heirloom tomatoes is to eat meals that are simple, easy combinations of the best of the season. After I unpacked my farmers market haul yesterday, I made a very basic salad for lunch.
You can think of it as a very chunky guacamole, and if you were looking for a tasty dip, you could chop everything a bit finer and serve it with tortilla chips. I like eating more like a creamy salad, the corn kernels blending into the avocado chunks and hiding in the tomatoes. I made mine completely plain, seasoned with just with salt and pepper, although if you wanted a bit more acidity, you could dress it with a squeeze of lime juice. My basic recipe is after the jump.
One of my favorite cookbooks is The Comfort Diner Cookbook, by Ira Freehoff and Pia Catton. It has a ton of comfort food recipes from the famed New York City eating establishment, everything from classic American sandwiches and breakfasts to pies and other desserts and great side dishes. This one sounds especially intriguing. It's the Cobb Salad Sandwich. Hey, why have a salad as a salad if you can have it as a sandwich?
If you peeled your colored Easter eggs and stored them in the refrigerator in cold water, they're probably still good to eat, but how many hard boiled eggs can one eat?!?!
I can eat a lot. I love eggs, particularly hard-boiled ones, which I could pop all day long at my desk. Unfortunately, while eggs aren't bad for me, like everything else, too much of those luscious yolks isn't a good thing. Sunday afternoon, we transformed our hard-boiled eggs into "angelled" eggs, like devilled eggs, but not as, uh, evil. Instead of the usual mayonnaise/yolk filling (double does of fat!) we filled half of them with avocado (basically a guacamole minus the cilantro and chopped onions) and the other half with the usual devilled egg mixture, replacing the mayonnaise with fat-free plain yogurt.
Even before finding out that avocado has been known as an aphrodisiac, I could always be seduced by an avocado. The way the ripe, creamy flesh of the fruit feels in the mouth probably has a lot to do with it.
The visual appeal of avocados applies to both men and women. The gentle curves of the avocado are similar to the curve of a woman's body, though I'm not sure how many women would want to be "avocado-shaped." Our word "avocado" comes from the ancient Aztec word "ahuacatl," which translates to "testicle tree." The ancient Aztecs thought the avocado, which hangs in pairs on the tree, resembled male testicles.
No, I don't need to give you yet another recipe for guacamole.
Not only are there plenty of them out there, but a recipe for guacamole is like a "recipe" for a bowl of cereal or pasta salad, i.e. it doesn't really require one. It's enough to say that the basics are avocados, garlic, onion, scallions, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper, and sometimes, chopped tomatoes. You mash them together and adjust everything to your taste. I usually leave cilantro out because that vile stuff tastes like dirty soap to me.
Though it tastes and feels like it would be naughty because it's so creamy, guacamole can be considered a "healthy" snack. Guacamole is made of all vegetables, and though people seem to focus on the "fat" part of avocado, the truth is, the fat may be fattening (like any fat), but it's still a "good" fat.
However, I have this thing I do to guacamole that pretty much yanks guacamole off the "healthy" table and hurls it down into the deep fat fryer with things like Buffalo wings with Blue Cheese Dressing and French Onion Dip.
I add a giant -- no, make that enormous -- dollop of sour cream to my guacamole. Not that good, ripe avocados need it, but the full fat sour cream makes guacamole even creamier, and adds a different tang in addition to the lime juice.
If you have a "secret" or interesting addition to guacamole, let us know in the comments!
If there's one thing I would bet my last paycheck on as making an appearance at every Super Bowl party this weekend, it's chips and salsa. Not only is it possibly the easiest thing to "serve" because you only have to rip open a bag of tortilla chips and pop open a jar of salsa, but since the Super Bowl is being hosted in Arizona, lots of party themes will be "Southwest." It's just too easy to open a jar of salsa that you buy from the store, but the truth is, salsa is so easy to make at home. Here are eight recipes for different kinds of salsa (which literally translates to just "sauce") to go with your Super Bowl menu:
Salsa Verde - This salsa green from the little green tomatillos, which aren't just small, underripe tomatoes, though they are in the same family. This recipe for Tomatillo Salsa Verde is by Bruce Aidells and Nancy Oakes and is part of an entire meal of fish tacos.
Pico de Gallo - Pico de Gallo is a chunky "salsa" that has three basic diced ingredients: diced tomatoes, onions, and jalapeno, plus chopped cilantro. If you happen to be a fan of that baastion of Southwest cuisine, Applebee's, CDKitchen has the restaurant's recipe.
Roasted Tomato Salsa - eHow explains step-by-step how to make a basic Roasted Tomato Salsa.
Avocado Salsa - An avocado salsa isn't the same thing as guacamole. Suite 101 has a recipe for a spicy, creamy avocado salsa.
Mango, Avocado, and Shrimp Salsa - This could be a ceviche, but technically, the shrimp is steamed in water before adding to the salsa (in ceviche, the raw fish are usually "cooked" with lime or other citrus juice).
Black Bean Salsa -The Hot Sauce Blog has a recipe for Black Bean Salsa, but we love what it comes with, too -- cheese stuffed poblano peppers!
I was born in Southern California, where avocados really do grow on trees. My parents had friends who had several of these trees and during avocado season would regularly give us grocery bags full of avocados. For the first nine years of my life, they were a staple rather than a luxury item and we ate them without ceremony. Frequently dinner would include half an avocado for each of us, the hole in the center filled with homemade Italian dressing. There were also deep bowls of guacamole eaten with health food store tortilla chips and cubed avocado bits tossed in with green salads.
These days avocados don't flow quite as freely into my life. I acquire them in ones and twos as opposed to dozens. But I still like the simple preparation best. In my book there is nothing better than half an avocado, a salt shaker and a spoon.
This philosophy of simple prep rather than complex can translate to many different foods. What are some of the other foods that you all out there in reader-land prefer eating without fuss or major effort?
I adore chipotle peppers. They may be trendy, but that doesn't take away from the fact that they are very tasty. Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapenos and are usually packed in cans in an adobo sauce. The original process was developed to preserve the peppers, but the smoky flavor and lingering heat of the chipotle long ago caused it to become popular in its own right. That heat makes a nice background to the cool, creamy avocado in this guacamole.
You can choose to make it either creamy or chunky, depending on what you want to serve it with. Chunky guacamoles tend to work best with chips and crackers, as both provide ample surface area for scooping. Creamier dips are a better choice for veggies and pretzels, or other snacks that don't make for a good scoop. For a chunky dip, simply mince everything and stir it together to blend. For an ultra-creamy dip, use the food processor to combine everything.
Not all salads revolve around lettuce and the Avocado, Grapefruit, and Pomegranate Salad from Pepper at Frugal Cuisine is a perfect example of this fact. The salad is very simple - only one grapefruit avocado, pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of extra grapefruit juice - but very elegant. Coincidentally, the red and green colors of the salad and the jewel-like look of the pomegranate seeds make this an incredibly festive dish and ideal for the holidays, especially if you live in California or somewhere it is easy to get avocados year-round.
The creamy avocados balance out the sharp flavor of the grapefruit, while the pomegranate seeds add a much needed crunch. A sweet grapefruit will work best here, so if yours is very bitter, you might want to use half of an orange to round out the flavors of the salad.
This salad would work well served on its own, but could also be used as a sort of relish for fish or chicken if you diced up everything into small pieces.
Mash up some vegetables and spices, add in a splash of lime and what do you get? Some rockin' guacamole, just like this one featured on Gluten Free Goddess. The thing that sets this guacamole apart from others, aside from a lovely presentation with slices of lime, is that it uses tomatillos and jalapeno peppers, in addition to the fairly standard combination of tomatoes, onions, garlic and avocado. The dip is colorful, packed with flavor and more than enough to be a meal on its own if you're looking for something that doesn't involve any cooking for an easy lunch.
No doubt you noticed that the blog the recipe comes from is about gluten free foods. Guacamole is a great choice for anyone with a wheat intolerance - it's good for just about anyone actually - because it pairs much better than the average dip with corn tortilla chips, one of the favorite snacks of many gluten-free eaters.
It's ok to put a little butter on your corn on the cob and add a bit more dressing to that salad. The nutrients in some vegetables are fat soluble and are absorbed much better by the body when accompanied by a little fat. A study conducted at Ohio State University, found that the absorption of nutrients was not only higher when accompanied by fats, but that it was actually minimized when the fat-free foods were eaten alone.
Previous studies have shown the same results in rats, but this study followed the nutrient absorption of human diets. It was a follow-up to a 2004 study that tracked nutrient absorption when comparing low fat salad dressings to fat-free ones. In this one, salsas and salads were served to participants with and without avocado. Absorption of beta carotene jumped by up to 18 times the amount, and lycopene jumped as much as 7 when the avocado was included, even controlling for the nutrients added by the avocado itself.
Normally, I am not a big fan of any type of custard desserts, whether that is a creme brulee or a silky chocolate pudding. I guess I just like the idea of biting into something and chewing. However, with the mercury rising faster than an over-yeasted bread dough, something cold and slippery as a dessert gains some appeal.
There is nothing particularly interesting about the panna cotta pictured above. The recipe for a basic "cooked cream," as it translates into English from Italian, can be found just about anywhere. I did, however, flavor it with lime, and while many people serve panna cotta with a fruity sauce or compote, for some reason, avocado came to mind. I think it was inspired by the use of lime. Strangely, it tastes pretty good, as avocado in sweet drinks and desserts is not uncommon in some parts of the world. It just takes a wee bit of getting used to something that you normally scoop up with a tortilla chip.
We have all heard it. It's this universal truth that once you cut an avocado, you have to perform all kinds of voodoo magic to keep it from turning brown - put the pit in with guacamole, sprinkle with lemon or lime juice right away, pray to the avocado gods, etc. Otherwise, your avocado is going to go from creamy luscious green to brown in a matter of...seconds?
But for some reason, this universal truth didn't sit well with me. I love avocados, and unless the avocado has those horrible brown streaks and spots to begin with, I have rarely had the problem of it turning brown right away. I always wondered if I just got lucky somehow.
I did a test to see if avocados really do turn brown, and if so, how long it takes.
Arugula is sort of a plain, not very glamorous green all by itself, but Bea at La Tartine Gourmande, who has recipes in both English and French for some awesome food and takes incredible photos, has made arugula downright hot and sexy by spicing and sauteing them with soft, smooth creamy avocados. The photo of Poêlée d'avocat et de roquette épicée - Spiced Sautéed Avocado and Arugula is gorgeous, of course, but it's pretty amazing to see a dish that has cooked avocados!
One of my favorite cookbooks is 
It's ok to put a little butter on your corn on the cob and add a bit more dressing to that salad. The nutrients in some vegetables are fat soluble and are absorbed much better by the body when accompanied by a little fat. A study conducted at Ohio State University, found that the absorption of nutrients was not only higher when accompanied by fats, but that it was actually minimized when the fat-free foods were eaten alone. 
We have all heard it. It's this 
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