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.
* 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!
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