Some yummy things to do with avacado

The secret to making a good meal with avacados is using the right kind of avacado...always use Hass avacados when available. Hass avacados should be black on the outside when ripe and just a little soft. If you are using the avacado right away it doesn't need to be refrigerated but if you want it to keep for a few days refrigerating will slow down the ripening process. The two followong recipes use Hass avacados:

Tropical Scallop Salad

Ingredients:
-1 Hass avacado
-1/4 a yellow or red onion
-2 cups whole sea scallops
-1 cup orange juice
-1/4 cup lime juice
-salt and pepper to taste


Directions:


1. boil a pot of lightly salted water and add scallops, cook scallops for no more than 3 minutes


2. take scallops out of water and chop into bite size pieces


3. in a bowl mix scallops, orange juice, lime juice, salt and pepper

4. mince onion and add to bowl, mix all ingredients together

5. refridgerate for an hour



This is what mixture should look like when refrigerated



6. after the hour is up take mixture out of fridge and add *chopped avacado and more salt and pepper to taste....mix and serve

*To chop an avacado: Start with a ripe avocado and cut it lengthwise around the seed. Rotate the halves in different directions to separate. Take a spoon and scoop the seed out. You can either then scoop out the rest of the avacado with a spoon or use a knife and cut the avacado into bite size pieces and peel from skin.

Tropical scallop salad on the left and guacamole on the right - guac made with yellow tomatoes

Guacamole

Ingredients:

-1 Hass avacado

-garlic powder

-1/2 lime

-1 tomato

-salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cut up avacado and totmato into small chunks, mash avacado with a spoon or in a mortar and pestle....i still leave it a little chunky.

2. mix in tomatoes and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper

3. squeeze 1/2 lime over mixture and mix thoroughly...serve with tortialla chips!

Fried Paneer

Anyone who is a fan of Indian food has probably had Paneer - Indian cheese. I love the light taste. It's their version of cottage cheese only it is formed into a block. Paneer tastes great in currys but also tastes good as an appetizer fried. Paneer is sold in Indian stores in the freezer/cooler section in 1 pound blocks. All you would need to make fried paneer is paneer and olive oil...it also tastes good breaded so you would just need to dip the paneer pieces in egg and flour.

Directions to make fried paneeer:

1. chop up block into bite size pieces (or desired amount)

2. heat generous amount of olive oil in pan

3. fry paneer until it is golden brown on both sides

Serve with some mixed pickle and some other indian appetizers....

I had some dahl samosas and spinach pakora...mmm...

Blue cheese brie fondue

I bought a huge block of blue brie cheese at the local farmers market...I have had blue cheese and I have had brie before but never the two together. I decided that this sounded like a really fun combination to make fondue with. My mother had bought me an electric fondue maker and it was just basically just gathering dust in the closet. I took it down, brushed it off and made the following recipe:

Blue cheese brie fondue

Everything waiting to get started


Ingredients for fondue:

-1 lb of blue brie cheese, rind cut off and cut into cubes

-2 tsp cornstarch or flour

-1 yellow onion finely diced

-2 tbsp olive oil

- one clove garlic minced

-1/2 teaspoon dried chives

-1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

-3/4 cup dry white wine

-salt and pepper to taste- I added 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper


For dipping:
Bread, grapes, carrots, tomatoes, apples (granny smith is especially good with cheese fondue!)
I had yellow carrots, yellow tomatoes, gala apples, black grapes, pepperoni and the only bread I had- some nan broken up into bite size pieces

Directions:

***make sure you have all ingredients ready before you begin

1. turn electric fondue pot on to medium-high heat

2. pour in 2 tbsp olive oil and heat for a few moments

3. toss onions and garlic into pot and cook for about one minute



4. add wine and chives and heat to boiling


5. while oil is heating mix cheeses with cornstarch/flour

6. when wine is boiling reduce heat to low-medium

7. begin to slowly add cheese...wait for cheese to melt and mix before adding more...continue to add cheese until it is all disolved

8. season with salt and pepper and mix

Dip items of your choice into fondue...leave fondue on low-medium heat when serving...enjoy!




fondue pizza...mmm










Apples and fondue...granny smith is much better....


For my first attempt at fondue I am really happy with how it turned out...I will definitely make it again!

Crab Cakes

I had bought some canned jumbo lumped crab and didnt know what to do with it for some time. Finally I decided to make some crab cakes with it. I suggest using fresh crab though because I found the canned crab too fishy tasting.

Ingredients:

-1 lb fresh lump crab

-2 teaspoons mayo

-3 tablespoons flour

-1 teaspoon seafood seasoning like old bay

-salt and pepper to taste

-lemon

-panko (japanese breadcrumbs)

-1 egg

-oil to fry

To make:

1. make sure to pick over crab for peices of shell, mix crab, seasoning, salt and pepper, and flour in a bowl.

2.heat some oil in a frying pan

3.dip cakes in egg and coat in panko

4. place cakes in frying pan and fry until brown on both sides

5. plate with some tartar sauce or cocktail sauce and some lemon slices

6. sprinkle some lemon juice over cakes

When finished they should look something like this: