Note: This is a copied blog from my primary blog (
Expedition Wellbeing). I am bringing all of the recipes on to this blog to serve as a recipe book.
Avocado Paste!!
MMM I finally resisted ignoring
eating this food because of the strange look of avocados about a year
ago. Total WIN! The downfall of avocados is that they are really
expensive except for a few months out of the year, and I want them all
year long!
So, I was inspired by Jimmie John's who has
an avocado paste-like spread. I have been making this stuff for about a
year, but this is the first time I am taking advantage of the fruit
being in season so that I can keep mass amounts of it stored all year
long!
Recipe:
Despite the 3 limes and 7
avocados in the picture, I ended up using 6 avocados and 2 limes. I
usually add some garlic cloves, but I didn't this time. (Personally, I
think it is better with the garlic). I felt that 3 limes would have been
too much (2 was sufficient without the garlic), and I wanted to keep an
avocado for sushi!
I processed the mix in the Magic
Bullet Blender (you cna use a blender, but I do not have a very good
one), with the 4 blade bottom, and used ziploc snack bags for storage.
Make
sure that the avocados are RIPE! You don't want them to bee too ripe
though, or they will not stay green as well through processing, just
soft and easy to cut.
1.
Cut up the avocado. The smaller you can get the pieces, the easier it
is on the blender. For first time avocado cutters, it really is easier
to cut it in half, pull out the seed, and trim off the skin.
2. I put just 3 of the avocados in the blender at first, so that it does not get bogged down.
*
once you have the avocados in the blender,you might need to cop them a
little finer. I just hack a little back and forth with a knife- not
'culinarrily' correct, but it works!
* You can also add pressed
garlic in at this point (for this amount, I would thing 2-4 cloves
would be enough, depending on how potent your garlic strain is
-Brazilian is HOT!).
3. Add 1/3 a cup of water (this should be enough for all 6 avocados)
4.
Add the lime juice from both fresh limes. I just cut the limes into
quarters and squeeze the juice out of them. I don't mind the pulp
either! You can even just peel the limes, chip them up, and throw them
right in with the avocados.
5.
Blend! This isn't really sloppy, so you probably will not need the lid
on. Because this is pretty thick, you will need to push the mix that
comes up on the sides down into the middle. Blend until you are not
seeing chunks.
6.
Once that first half is well blended, chop up the remaining 3 avocados
and put them in the blender. be sure to chop them up fine (repeating the
tip in step 2 if necessary). *And, mix the cut avocados with the smooth
paste created in the previous steps.
7.
Blend until smooth (Repeat step 5). If you wish you can add more water
after some blending if the paste is very thick, but do not add too much
(you cannot take it back out!) because you do not want it runny. The
image below shows the recommended consistency of the finished product. A
few smaller chunks aren't really a big deal.
8.
Spoon about 2 Tbs into ziplock snack sized bags. (You should get about
15 baggies, each serving is about 90 calories since they are about 0.4
of an avocado). - If you have a vacuum sealer, it will work for this,
but in my experience, you wast a lot of the expensive bags and this
process keeps them just as fresh.
9.
I press all of the paste into the bottom of the bag and try to remove
as much air as possible. It will be essential to put the bags into an
air tight container. If not, you risk everything turning brown. Granted,
brown doesn't mean that the paste is bad, but it is not appealing and
grosses me out personally.
10.
Seal the container, put it in the freezer and there you go! When you
are ready to eat some, take a baggie out of the freezer to thaw in the
frisge overnight.
* TIP: DO NOT quick thaw (under water
or in room temperature) this paste. Everything starts to separate and
turn brown and looks nasty. If you can tolerate that, go for it, but
from my experience, it kills the appetite looking at it! haha
TIP when using: I leave the bag sealed and cut a corner off so that you can easily squeeze the paste out without making a mess.
TIP
for left overs: If you only want to use a half serving of the paste,
(either make smaller portions or) put the back with the cut corner into
another ziplock or an air tight container. I have had the paste stay
green for a few days in a cold fridge after it was opened.
Some of the best uses I have tried:
-
This paste is GREAT mixed with the new Starkist Tuna Creations Hickory
Smoked Tuna (110 calories). Just mix the 2 together and you have a great
snack, or add it on crackers or bread for an entree!
-
Use the paste as a salad dressing -skip the cheese (unless you add some
goat cheese, because the two mixed together is AMAZING). Now you have
added healthy fats to your otherwise boring salad!
- Use it instead of Mayo or other sandwich dressings. There is a reason Jimmie John's uses it on their subs as a spread!
