Some foods are so simple, so easy, that they don’t even seem worth talking about. Such as avocado toast, for example, a healthy version of a rich buttered toast.
Avocado toast is technically just sliced or smashed avocado on top of a piece of toast 一 so simple, but when you take one bite, you will quickly realize that it is so much more than that.
Avocado toast is rich like buttered toast 一 only heftier, silkier and yes, even richer. You will never be disappointed with a plain, no-frills version of this simple dish for breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack or just because you want another excuse to eat avocado. But, if you feel like getting creative, we have found some recipes to help you take your already amazing meal up a notch or two.
A nutritious fruit thought to have originated in southern Mexico, but since grown in tropical and semi-tropical regions of the world.
Avocados are pear-shaped fruits with dark-green to purplish-black colored skin. The flesh which becomes buttery soft when ripe, is light green near the skin becoming yellowish toward its single, ovoid seed in the center. Often used to make guacamole, avocados are great eaten raw on their own or in salads and salsas. They’re also a wonderful ingredient in soups, or as a topping for burgers or sandwiches. The skin is bumpy, green, and dark brown. Avocados are about the size of a pear.
Flavors: Nutty, sweet
Mouthfeel: Creamy, Rich, Buttery
Food complements: Salsa, Burritos, Steaks, Chips, Vegetables, Eggs, Cucumbers, Tomatoes
Wine complements: Red wine, Cabernet savignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, White wine
Beverage complements: Any beverage, Sangria, Tequila, Tea
Substitutes: Chayote squash
Indians in tropical America break avocados in half, add salt and eat with tortillas and a cup of coffee—as a complete meal. In North America, avocados are primarily served as salad vegetables, merely halved and garnished with seasonings, lime juice, lemon juice, vinegar, mayonnaise or other dressings. Often the halves are stuffed with shrimp, crab or other seafood. Avocado flesh may be sliced or diced and combined with tomatoes, cucumbers or other vegetables and served as a salad. The seasoned flesh is sometimes used as a sandwich filling. Avocado, cream cheese and pineapple juice may be blended as a creamy dressing for fruit salads.
Mexican guacamole, a blend of the pureed flesh with lemon or lime juice, onion juice or powder, minced garlic, chili powder or Tabasco sauce, and salt and pepper has become a widely popular “dip” for crackers, potato chips or other snacks. The ingredients of guacamole may vary, and some people add mayonnaise.
Because of its tannin content, the flesh becomes bitter if cooked. Diced avocado can be added to lemon-flavored gelatin after cooling and before it is set, and chunks of avocado may be added to hot foods such as soup, stew, chili, or omelettes just before serving. In Guatemalan restaurants, a ripe avocado is placed on the table when a hot dish is served and the diner scoops out the flesh and adds it just before eating. For a “gourmet” breakfast, avocado halves are warmed in an oven at low heat, then topped with scrambled eggs and anchovies.
In Brazil, the avocado is regarded more as a true fruit than as a vegetable and is used mostly mashed in sherbet, ice cream, or milkshakes. Avocado flesh is added to heated ice cream mixes (such as boiled custard) only after they have cooled. If mashed by hand, the fork must be a silver one to avoid discoloring the avocado. A New Zealand recipe for avocado ice cream is a blend of avocado, lemon juice, orange juice, grated orange rind, milk, cream, sugar and salt, frozen, beaten until creamy, and frozen again. Content adapted from Foodista.
