Avocado Love

  

Last summer, my husband turned his routine annual medical trip to New York into a fun mini-vacation with our teen daughter. And ever since their trip,  this New York City-loving duo have been harping about the fresh guacamole they had at a Mexican restaurant.  

My engineer husband, who has been married to this ex-caterer/church cook for two decades, rarely talks about food.  Oh, he loves to eat good food, but he rarely has a full conversation about it.

So when he mentioned several times that he wanted to make guacamole like they did in that New York restaurant, (translation = Kay, please make it the way they did in that New York restaurant,) I listened.  

      

And to my delight, I spotted this handsome stone mortar and pestle at my favorite local Korean food store.  It was so heavy that the lady had to triple bag it. Now it's the most used piece of equipment on my kitchen counter.  

 And our avocado repertoire has expanded from simple guac to Edamame-Guacamole and Avocado fries.  Pretty fun and fancy, right? 

I know, it seems wrong to FRY a perfectly good avocado, but it really works, and they are just delicious: crunchy Panko exterior with the goodness of a soft, nutty inside texture.   

My kids begged for more.  

These avocado photos were also featured in
 Miss Sophie's column on Savannah Morning News today.

Print This Recipe! 

Panko Avocado Fries with Hoisin Dipping Sauce

2 firm but ripe avocados

1/2 cup of all purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup+ panko bread crumbs

3/4 teaspoon sea salt divided (in flour, egg wash, panko bread crumbs)

4 cup of canola or vegetable oil for frying 

In a small deep fryer or in a cast-iron pan, heat oil to 350 degrees F. 

In three separate shallow bowls or pans, put flour, beaten eggs, and panko bread crumbs in that order.  Add 1/4 teaspoon sea salt in each.  

Halve the avocado, peel, and slice avocado into 10-12 wedges total per each avocado.   

Dredge wedges in flour, egg wash, and then finally gently roll them in panko.  

Deep fry in batches until golden brown.  Drain on a wire rack or on paper towels.  Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.  

Hoisin Dipping Sauce 

1/4 cup soy sauce 

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1 teaspoon green onions, chopped 

1 tablespoon water 

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce 

1/4 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 

1/2 teaspoon white sugar 

Combine all the ingredients and whisk until well blended.  Add more hoisin sauce if you want to thicken the sauce. Cover and refrigerate until needed.  

Gently warm in a sauce pan before serving. 

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Edamame-Guacamole 

Makes about a cup

1  avocado firm, but ripe, peeled, seeded and diced in chunks

1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed

1 small clove garlic, finely grated

2 tablespoon cilantro leaves, chopped

1 teaspoon jalapeño, chopped

2 tablespoons grated onion

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 lime, juiced

If you own a stone mortar and pestle, this is a great recipe to put it to use.  If not, use a food processor with a blade attachment.  First put into processor (or mortar) edamame, garlic, salt, cilantro, jalapeño, and pepper, and process until finely chopped.  Add lime juice and whirl a few more times to incorporate.  Add diced avocado and pulse 4-5 times until well blended.  

Serve this healthy guacamole in a pretty bowl with warmed tortilla chips.  You will need to double the recipe. It's never enough.  

Crispy Pea Cakes with Avocado Aioli

 As some of you may know, I have been taking recipe photos for Miss Sophie, who is a weekly food columnist for Savannah Morning Newspaper.  It has been such an enriching experience for me to have a dear friend whom I can freely talk about food/recipe/life/faith with.  As we talk about our next recipe project and/or dream of a cookbook one day, we become like giddy school girls.  

Miss Sophie's article on peas this week is especially good.  Her story is always laced with personal experiences you might hear from your favorite aunt, rocking the heat away on the front porch while sipping on a tall glass of  overly sweetened iced tea.    

 Top: Pink Eyes, Dixie Lees Bottom: Zippers

 Beautiful green mixure is tossed in Panko bread crumbs

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Crispy Pea Cakes

Makes 8 small cakes

2 cups cooked peas(black-eyed, Pink-eyed, Zippers, Dixie Lees); left-overs are great for this recipe
1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely diced

1/4 cup onion, finely diced

3 tablespoons canola oil, divided 

1 garlic clove, grated 

1 1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs, divided (use only 1/3 cup for pea cake mixture)
1/2 lime, zested and juiced (Save the other half for aioli)
2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 eggs

Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a medium-high heat and sauté onion and red bell pepper.  Transfer to a large bowl and cool.  

Drain cooked peas well.  Pat dry with paper towel.  Put the peas in the food processor and pulse 4-5 times in a quick interval.  Do not over process.  You want the mixture to be somewhat chunky but mashed.  Add peas to onion and red bell pepper mixture.  Add garlic, 1/3 cup of Panko, and the remaining ingredients.  Combine well.  Mixture will be a little wet but it will cook and get firm.  

Divide and make into 8 cakes.  Roll the cakes in 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs.  Using the same frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil to medium-high heat and cook 4 cakes until the crust is golden brown and cake is firm about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Add the remaining oil and repeat.  

Serve hot with Avocado aioli.  

Avocado Aioli

1 avocado, ripe but firm, pitted, and peeled, diced

1/3 cup mayonnaise, Hellman's
1/2 lime, zested and juiced

1/2 clove of garlic, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Whirl all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Add more salt to taste. Refrigerate until needed.  

Shrimp Rangoon & Feature Interview

It would be nice to have the written recipe to go along with the video, wouldn't it? Well, here it is finally! Sorry so many of you had to ask for it.

And you already know me, but my friend, Julie did a wonderful feature interview of me. Blush....I am humbled by her kindness.

Check out Julie's site and the interview, here!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Print This Recipe!

Shrimp Rangoon
Makes 50+

8 oz of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
2 tbsp. of Chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 tbsp. of Chopped green onions
2 tsp. of grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. of granulated sugar
2 tsp. of Fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. of Salt
1/2 tsp. of Pepper
1 pound(s) of par-cooked shrimp, finely chopped (or lump crab meat)
50 Wonton wrappers
1 quart(s) of Canola oil for frying
1/2 cup(s) of chopped water chestnut
1 Egg white for egg wash

Put softened cream cheese, cilantro, green onions, ginger, sugar, lime juice, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse 3-4 times until just combined.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in shrimp and water chestnut.

Using a pastry brush or a finger tip, put egg white on the edge of the wonton skin. Place one heaping teaspoon of shrimp mixture in the center of each wrapper, fold in half, pressing to sea the edges well.

Transfer to a wire rack and repeat with remaining wrappers and shrimp mixture.
Preheat oil in a heavy duty frying pan over medium-high heat until thermometer reaches between 350 degrees F to 375 degrees F.

Fry Rangoon in batches, 6-7 at a time, turning over a few times until both sides are crispy golden brown.

Drain Rangoon on a wire rack. Serve hot with your favorite dipping sauce.

Here is another way to plate the Rangoon for sit down dinner appetizers.

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