new adventures in avocado pasta
Food
Spurred by Martine's ability to create a tasty avocado pasta using nothing more that a few gin and tonics and a handful of pinenuts; also by my previous dismal failures in this direction, tonight I tried a new approach to the much-lauded dish.
The result was not perfect, but this time it was mainly because of process errors. The end result was actually quite tasty.
You need:
- Spaghetti-like pasta
- A large, ripe Hass avocado
- Medium brown onion
- Large clove of garlic
- Chilli flakes (would be much better with a fresh chopped red chilli)
- Cashews
- Sun dried tomatoes (not recommended, I will not be using them next time)
- Olive oil
Start the spaghetti cooking. Once al dente, drain and toss with some olive oil so it does not stick together.
Finely chop the onion and garlic. Remove the avocado's seed and skin and chop into large-ish bits, think thumb-size here.
Throw a generous amount of olive oil into a fry pan and on a medium/high heat, cook the onion until soft. Before the onion dries out, add the garlic, chilli, cashews (and sundried tomatoes if you are game) and continue to cook for around a minute.
Add the spaghetti and avocado to the frypan, stirring until the pasta is hot again.
Serve! I think it would be good with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on top, but that is untested.
The directions above represent a cleaned-up version of what I did; i.e. how I will make it next time. The only thing I am unhappy about still is preventing the extra stuff in the frypan from drying out too soon, maybe turning it into a cream-based sauce by adding some thickened cream at that point would be a good way to go. Conversely, I would not mind experimenting with adding some fresh herbs and chopped roma tomatoes to make a tomato-y sauce, but that may not work out. Next time, next time...
Comments
do you have a copy of that tomato and honey recipe by any chance?
Posted by: jessica on October 25, 2005 08:27 PM
Honey and capsicum, you mean?
Posted by: Mike on October 25, 2005 08:31 PM
quite possibly.. as i don't have the recipe ;) ..
if its apparently 'quick, easy and tasty' then that'd be the one.
Posted by: jessica on October 25, 2005 09:42 PM
the alternative (and cheaper) version of the avocado pasta recipe is of course:
ingredients
1 avocado (pref from housemates shelf in fridge)
spag
salt
procedure
1. cook spag
2. cut avocado in half. remove that seed thing and plant in the hope that it turns into free avocados.
3. sprinke both halves with salt and mash with fork (while still in skins)
4. scoop onto pasta and stir.
5. remember the pine nuts and put them in too. plant some in the hope that they turn into free pine nuts.
Next week - my famous 'pasta e pesto' recipe! stay tuned kids.
Posted by: matrine on October 25, 2005 10:07 PM
I tried the full-blown recipie tonight, with both pine nuts and almonds (didn't have cashews..) but forgot to add the lemon. Was some success - thanks, guys!
Posted by: Craig Turner on October 30, 2005 10:04 PM
Ahh... pinenuts. The _other_ nut of the gods. The reason I used cashews was because I was out of pinenuts. :)
Jess, yes, that's the one. I think it goes something like:
Start some random pasta cooking. I normally use penne, but would also seriously consider tagliatelle. Slice up a red capsicum into strips and along with a finely sliced/crushed clove of garlic, fry on a medium heat in a good amount of oil (olive, IIRC). As the capsicum softens, add a few tablespoons (the more the merrier) of finely chopped parsley. Before the capicum and parsley gets too limp and soggy, reduce the heat, add at least a few tablespoons of honey (again, the more the merrier) and toss with the cooked pasta. Voila!
Posted by: Mike on November 1, 2005 01:08 PM
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