If you live in an area of the country where you have a good, cheap supply of avocados, I envy you. You could say I'm pea green with envy. Bah! Bad pun.
Kidding aside, if you can grab a decent, reliable avocado from your produce department, you never have to deal with this.
Ugly, eh?
I was pretty ticked when I cut into this avocado last week, but it's really nothing new. It happens all the time. I grab one that is nice and firm, still mostly green, let it ripen on my counter and then when I cut into it, I have a fifty percent chance it will look like this. That's what happens when avocados have to travel across country to my grocery store in Ohio. And for this I paid $1.50. Puh.
When I made Guacamole Burgers last week, I had two avocados. One was sort of o.k. and the other is pictured above -- and I needed to make a big batch of guacamole. What to do? What to do?
I remembered a "technique" that intrigued me and so I proceeded. I had to make sure everyone was out of the kitchen, because if they saw what I was doing, they would have balked (and blabbed). I quickly thawed a cup of green peas under warm water in a colander. Gave them a good shake and then tossed them into the food processor (actually my mini). I turned it on and added a little dribble of water until it was creamy -- not a speck of whole pea remained. I scooped it out into the bowl with my partially good avocado, spooned in some canned tomatoes and chilies, squeezed in the juice of half a lime, crushed in two big garlic cloves, and then salted it. A quick mash with a potato masher and then a taste.
Unbelievable -- there was no evidence of green peas, other than the bright green color.
The true testers though, were my husband and children. I grabbed a bag of chips and poured them in a bowl and set it next to my bowl of guacamole. They fell for it -- no comment on the bright green color. They tasted and declared it delicious. They piled it on their burgers and ate every bite. Success!
After dinner I told my husband what I had done and his only comment was, "That's why it was so green. I was wondering." And then he scooped the last bit up with a chip and ate it.
I will most definitely use this technique again. Not only are green peas more reliable than avocados in term of quality, they are packed with more vitamins and minerals (way more Vitamin A and Calcium) than avocados, and they are much lower in calories and those calories don't come from nearly as much fat as avocados (nutritional values for peas here and avocados here).
Green Pea Guacamole
1 ripe avocado, pit and skin removed
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/3 cup Rotel tomatoes and chilies, drained
juice from half a lime
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
salt to taste
Place avocado flesh in a bowl.
Place peas in the food processor bowl with a tablespoon of water.
Process until creamy, adding more water if necessary.
Spoon pea puree into bowl with avocado. Add tomatoes, garlic and lime juice. Mash with a potato masher or a fork until mixed (but leave a few chunks of avocado).
Salt to taste and serve immediately.
.
1 ripe avocado, pit and skin removed
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/3 cup Rotel tomatoes and chilies, drained
juice from half a lime
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
salt to taste
Place avocado flesh in a bowl.
Place peas in the food processor bowl with a tablespoon of water.
Process until creamy, adding more water if necessary.
Spoon pea puree into bowl with avocado. Add tomatoes, garlic and lime juice. Mash with a potato masher or a fork until mixed (but leave a few chunks of avocado).
Salt to taste and serve immediately.
.
7 comments:
Wow - what a great tip! I'll have to try that.
Very clever. Even here in GA I have that problem with avocados. The most reliable ones come from Costco: cheaper, bigger, and better. I hardly ever buy them at the store.
you are my hero.
I am an avocado afficionado as well and nearly cry when i slice into my perfectly ripened avocado and discover what you pictured above!
I will say that last week I was at Sam's and they had a special on avocados- 5/6 for 4.98!!!! I literally looked all around me thinking there would be a rush for these avocados! ha! there was no rush, but I was skeptical. They have all been delicious, thankfully.
I will certainly try this sneaky trick sometime!
Aw hon. I love your site, I dream about having enough time to make all these dishes, those I have tried have all been incredible. As a native Texan, and a Mexican-American, this whole business with the peas makes me sort of sad. I'm glad you all enjoyed it, but might I reccommend Wholly Guacamole instead? I know, it's prepackaged, but it is really fabulous, you can get just the avacados and still mix in all the goodies yourself. It isn't powdery or chemically or anything, all natural, vaccum sealed, no preservatives. I didn't know your zip code, but it seems that Kroger in Ohio has them, there's a locator on the Wholly Guacamole website. None of us will tell, just shove the package way down in the recycle bin, LOL.
Shaun, I promise not to knock it 'til I try it if you promise the same!
It's a deal! Thank you for all the wonderful recipes, a quick visit to your site is sometimes all the break I get on a busy day.
Barb, I live in Texas and I have the same problem with Avocados. I will try this!
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