Eat Fresh - Avocados

Published December 20, 2006 in The Spectrum & Daily News

By Kathryn van Roosendaal

I never really ate avocados before moving to California. I had had guacamole, sure, but fresh avocados? It just wasn’t done. If you had handed me one of those green fruits I would have stared at it in confusion, much like that guy in the Carl’s Jr. commercial (“Without us, most guys would starve”).

Then I moved to Los Angeles and I had avocados trees growing right in my front yard. I would sit out on the patio to my apartment and watch these Hispanic ladies move slowly down the street, testing each fruit with a critical squeeze and dropping them gently into a basket. After a few weeks of this, I finally got up the nerve to ask them — with the help of a Spanish-speaking friend of mine — what they were going to do with all those avocados.

“We eat them,” was the reply. “We eat them in everything.”

A few days later that lady hunted me down and presented me with some sort of flauta stuffed with cheese and avocado and topped with guacamole. With the first bite I became a fan of the California avocado.

I no longer have them growing in my yard, so now I have to buy my avocados at the store. To get ones that aren’t bruised or overripe, you will want to buy them unripe and ripen them yourself. Choose fruits that are hard with an unblemished skin. Give it a shake: if the pit moves, pass it up. When you get them home, put them in a paper sack for 2 to 5 days until they are uniformly soft. For faster ripening, add an apple or banana to the bag.

Once the avocados are ripe, they can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks. They can also be frozen. Puree peeled, pitted avocados with 1 tablespoon lemon juice per 2 fruits. Put in a freezer bag and seal out all the air you can. Then put in the freezer for up to 6 months.

My favorite way to eat avocados is sliced fresh on a sandwich, salad, taco or quesadilla, although there are a few recipes I have grown to love over the years.

Crabmeat Stuffed Baked Avocado

This was the first recipe I ever encountered that had cooked avocados. It is a rich, creamy delight that is sure to tickle your tastebuds.

2 avocados, halved and sprinkled with lime juice

1/4 cup of butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups milk, scalded

1 pound lump crabmeat

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 tablespoon Pickapeppa Sauce (available in specialty condiment section)

Parmesan cheese

Saute onion in butter but do not allow to brown at all. Make roux by adding the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add milk, a small amount at a time, guarding against lumping. Cook and stir until smooth and thick. Remove from heat. Combine crab, mustard, and Pickapeppa Sauce, and add to white sauce. Fill avocado cavities with mixture, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes or until avocado is heated through. Serves 2. Source: Maurice's Tropical Fruit Cookbook by Great Outdoors Publishing Co.

Chunky Guacamole

I have tried a plethora of different guacamole recipes over the years and this is by far my favorite. I still tend to tweak it a bit every time I make it so it is never quite the same twice.

1/2 small sweet onion, very finely chopped

1 fresh hot green chile (serrano or jalapeno), stemmed, seeded and very finely chopped (adjust to your personal tastes)

1 ripe, medium-large tomato, cored and very finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and very finely chopped

10 fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

3 ripe, medium-sized avocados

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Juice of 1/2 lime

Mix the finely chopped onion, chiles, tomato, garlic, and cilantro in a medium-sized bowl. Cut around the avocados lengthwise to the seed, then twist the halves in opposite directions to separate. Remove the seeds and discard. Scoop the avocado flesh from the skin, pour in lime juice and sprinkle with salt. Mash together with a fork to a lumpy consistency. Add the previous onion and vegetable mixture and mix to a chunky consistency. Immediately cover the guacamole with a sheet of plastic wrap, pushing the wrap down to contact the entire surface of the guacamole to inhibit browning. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours to let flavors blend. To serve, place in a decorative bowl and garnish with your choice of chopped onion, cilantro, halved cherry tomatoes, and/or crumbled Mexican, feta or farmer’s cheese. Use as a dip with tortilla chips or as a condiment with fajitas or other Mexican dishes. Makes about 3 cups.