A is for Avocado

Let’s play the alphabet game. I am challenging myself for the next 26 days (because there are 26 letters in the English alphabet), to post about a particular food or ingredient each day that begins with the specified letter of the day.

So, let’s begin right now!… starting with the letter A.

A is for Avocado. While avocado isn’t the most unique or intriguing ingredient, it is becoming more and more popular in American households as it claims to be a healthful “super food.” But what is a super food anyway? Clearly avocados don’t give you flying powers, but their plethora of vitamin E, fiber, monounsaturated fat, B-complex vitamins, folate, potassium, and magnesium provide the immune system with a reinvigorating boost. The monounsaturated fat, also known as one of the “good fats,” can help lower bad cholesterol, or LDL, levels, which in turn can help maintain a healthy, vibrant heart. The vitamins and minerals found in avocados work throughout the body, both inside and out, rejuvenating skin, hair, nails, and many internal organs.

Aside from all the health benefits they have to offer, avocados are nature’s purest source of unctuous, creamy luxury. Almost all other forms of creamy indulgence are by-products of animals or must be processed in some way to achieve their guiltful taste and texture.

Now that you’ve have a brief avocado 101, the question now is, “how do you cook with avocados?”Most people never look beyond the unpretentious guacamole to use up the avocados that are going bad in the pantry. Yes, guacamole is a delicious dip for tortilla chips, there are certainly more creative ways to prepare avocados:

• Slice or spread them on sandwiches as a healthy alternative to mayonnaise.
• Make avocados the main ingredient of a salad by dicing them up and tossing them with red onion, grapefruit segments, fresh mint, arugula, and a lemony vinaigrette.
• Blend them in fruit smoothies – yes smoothies! – for a healthy breakfast. The creaminess of the avocado replaces that of any dairy product commonly used, like yogurt or milk.
• Puree with herbs and toss with pasta to make a creamy pasta sauce.

Try my recipe for “Green Machine Pasta”:

1 avocado
juice of 1/2 lemon
12 oz. whole wheat pasta
2 Tbps. fresh chives
3 Tbsp. fresh basil
1 clove garlic
salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 lb. fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds (optional garnish)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until it is al dente. Reserve about 2 cups of the pasta water and drain the cooked pasta from the rest of the cooking liquid. Put the pasta in a large bowl and toss with the fresh spinach immediately, as the heat from the pasta will wilt the leaves. Then prepare the avocado sauce. Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed. Scrape out the flesh into a food processor, and add the garlic, herbs, lemon juice, about 1 cup of the pasta water, and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Puree the ingredients, adding more pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce. Check the sauce for seasoning and add more salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the pasta and spinach and toss to coat the pasta. If desired, top the pasta with toasted, sliced almonds for a balancing crunch component. Serve cold or at room temperature.