I Pity The Fool…that doesn’t love avocado (recipe included)

I truly believe that avocado is the most perfect…uhmmm…fruit? Well, I’m going to call it a fruit for the purpose of this blog entry.

It’s Friday night, and I had a big bowl of mushy kidney beans that I’d cooked up on a whim, needing to be turned into a meal. We decided, while lounging at the beach, that we’d do bean and rice burritos tonight- and that I’d head home to start cooking, and he’d run to Safeway to grab wraps, tomatoes, and whatever else I figured we’d need (an onion)

While in the kitchen making guacamole and salsa, I was thrust into a childhood memory wave of happiness. I have made salsa and guacamole SO many times since I was quite young and the thought of it reminds me of summer and fresh foods and so much fun!

Making salsa with my Mom was a mini-event, because, while we were only 2, we always would make a huge vat of salsa that would easily feed 20! Hahaha…why? Because we always shared, salsa goes good in pretty much anything AND, because salsa is always better on Day 2, Day 3!

Guacamole, on the other hand, curse of the sensi green fruit- is not a sustainable treat. I’m not fond of the brown skin that covers the top if left overnight. Others don’t care and just stir it up again, but…meh.

Anyways, being thrust into a wave of happiness over food inspired me to take some quick photos while prepping. I’m pleased to share my simple quick guacamole recipe. This will serve 2-3 people as it only uses 1 avocado.

1 ripe avocado! Please please don’t use it of it isn’t ripe!!!! Any good Asian corner produce shop will have ripe avocados hiding behind the register. They don’t want them squeezed!!

Score then scoop the avocado into the small serving bowl.

Juice half of a lime
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Dash of salt and pepper
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped onion

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Mush it all together with a fork in the bowl. Presto! Serve immediately!20120629-212946.jpg

Mama’s salsa recipe is too much for our small home. I make a quick salsa that I think is moreso known as pico di gallo. It’s made pretty much the same as guacamole but with tomatoes instead of avocado!

I used 2 tomatoes in this one to ensure we’d have some leftover for breakfast tomorrow.

Happy Canada Day!!!!

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Recipe – Pico d’Italia – Italian Inspired Salsa

I’ve just finished my second week of my new job, so I’m getting into the groove of things and haven’t cooked as much this week as usual. I’m posting a recipe that represented only a part of our amazing supper…but it represents a great “Ah-Ha” moment. We were making veggie burgers, our one big tomato was rotten (boo), but we had some cherry tomatoes and I said, “Let’s make a salsa!…oh, but we don’t have cilantro.” The incredibly amazing boyfriend says, “We have basil!” then the lightbulb goes off in my head and I make the following with stuff from our fridge:

Pico d’Italia

1/2 cup of chopped grape tomatoes
finely chopped fresh basil – we had about the equivalent of 8 leaves
4 finely chopped calamata olives
1 minced clove of garlic (my clove was pickled, yours doesn’t have to be)
1/2 finely chopped red pepper (I had less than that, but I added a bit of finely chopped pickled yellow peppers that I had bought at our local Farmer’s Market)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp lemon juice (balsamic vinegar would be a great alternative)
salt and pepper to taste

GOOOOOD!!!

it's just like homemade salsa...but Italian!