Tag Archives: avocado

Guacamole Agrandado

15 Aug

We’re in avocado season… and there’s no way I can eat a whole avocado in slices in one sitting. Unless… It’s converted into guacamole!!!!!

My new thing with guacamole… eating it with BBQ potato chips instead of tortilla chips!!! These are the genius ideas one comes up in serendipity – when a natural doctor tells you to stay away from corn for a whole month.

And where does the “agrandado” comes from?? Agrandado in Spanish means “supersized”, like the combos in fast foods joints. We recently went to a Mexican restaurant and we wanted a small batch of pica de gallo and there were 2 options – regular and “agrandado”. I immediately though the agrandado version was simply… more quantity. But nooooooo… Agrandado meant it has pieces of queso fresco inside.

So for my sister’s recent visit, I decided to make my guacamole even BIGGER and BETTER with pieces of queso blanco del país inside… making it a Guacamole Agrandado!!!!

GUACAMOLE AGRANDADO

1 avocado, cut into small pieces
½ large tomato, peeled and finely diced
¼ medium onion, finely diced
The juice of 1 criollo lemon or lime
A drizzle of olive oil – about 1 tbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup of pieces of Queso Blanco del País or Mexican Queso Fresco or a mild Feta
2 tbs of fresh parsley (optional)
  1. Mix everything in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Let it stand in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors meld together.

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Mexico – Beautiful and Delicious – Part 2

10 Sep

More on my series of installments on the cuisine of Mexico, more specifically to Guadalajara, where I got to spend a few days now in August.  You can read my first post here.

I was in Guadalajara on business and my friend and colleague Salvador López Solerssi was not only my trade show and store-check guide, but in many ways my culinary guide as well.  I promised him I would include his full name so it would be easy for him to Google himself and find this post without the link…

Salvador was very taken with the fact I write this blog and was super eager to show me all the culinary delicacies Guadalajara has to offer…

We first went to lunch after having walked the trade show a few times over… I was starving!!!!  Look at what we had for lunch:  Queso Fundido, Guacamole and Chips, Fried Quesadillas and for dessert, Crepas with Cajeta.  Everything was excellent, but this was the first time I’ve had Fried Quesadillas or Quesadillas Fritas, as stated in the menu…  I had a sampler of these with one filled with strips of jalapeño peppers and cheese, another one with mushrooms and cheese and the last one filled with zucchini blossoms and cheese.  Superb!!!!  These come like little “pastelillos” of fried, but never greasy, tortilla and the cheese just oozes out of them when you cut them open.  My mouth waters just writing about them.

Guacamole     

Guacamole 

Queso Fundido

    Queso Fundido

  

 

Quedadillas Fritas

Quesadillas Fritas

  

Flor de Calabaza/Zucchini blossoms    

  Quesadillas - Flor Calabaza  

 

Rajitas Jalapeños

Quesadilla Frita - Jalapenos

 

Crepas de Cajeta

         Crepas con Cajeta - MX

I don’t have to tell that after that lunch, dinner was pretty much out of the question…  I had to take a nap, just like the ones you take after Thanksgiving lunch/dinner.  I was full, but happy as a toad.

Another Guadalajaran delicacy is a Torta Ahogada– a sandwich made with shredded pork or beef and dunked in a spicy tomato sauce.  I guess this would be considered the Mexican version of a Reuben.   The thing… we needed to find a place where we could order a vegetarian version because no one in the street would dare make me a vegetarian torta ahogada.  So Salvador took me to a tourist trap… but a super fun one at that, with mariachis and everything.  The only place in all Guadalajara I was received with hand sanitizer… typical, to please tourists’ panics. 

We ordered a Torta Ahogada with panela cheese and sautéed mushrooms.  Salvador prepared the sauce for me… it was tomato based, a bit of the spicy version and lime juice.  You then take your sandwich, made in a special salty crusty bread, and you dunk it in the sauce and eat away.  I really, really liked it. Maybe because I am a sandwich girl… but the stuff was very, very tasty.  Not the stuff you want to order on a date… just so you gals know.

Torta Ahogada Veggie      Salsa - Torta Ahogada     

Dunking - Torta Ahogada 2   

We also ordered Breaded Panela Cheese in a Green Sauce.  It was presented in a molcajete, a stone version of a pilón or mortar and pestle.  It was delicious too… imagine offering fried breaded cheese to me, the cheese lover.  The sauce was a cilantro and tomatillo based broth.  You cut a piece and eat it inside a tortilla.  How else??

Panela Empanado

Then, one our way to do more store-checks, Salvador wanted to show me the typical breakfast of Guadalajara – Tacos al Vapor or Steamed Tacos.  I saw that the hotel breakfast offered tortillas, refried beans and the like for breakfast…  but, I stuck with the fresh fruits, cottage cheese and whole grain toasts, craving the more typical fare from home.  But Salvador insisted I needed to try the local version of these tacos filled with mashed potato.  They are sold in these street carts and you order as many tacos as you want… you then dress them with a tomato/onion salsa, some “pique” and eat away.  They’re light and delicious.  Not heavy at all.  I ordered only one at first, but had to have another one, because they were so tasty.  With a side of freshly squeezed orange juice – I wished the hotel breakfast was this tasty every morning…

Taco al Vapor

Carrito - Tacos Vapor

That’s Salvador, right there next to the tacos al vapor cart… enjoying his tacos.  I want to thank him soooooooo much for embracing my search for great vegetarian Mexican food in Guadalajara.  I am certain, than when I return, we will be enjoying more and more delicious food all over town…  ¡¡BUEN PROVECHO!!

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Easy Breezy Salad

5 Oct

Not all salads must include lettuce… especially during avocado season.

Growing up, a few slices of tomato or opening a can of corn were considered a salad side dish.  Nowadays, when I am running all over the place, and have little time to prepare a full-on meal, I usually go to my quickie salad fixes – very similar, but very different from what I used to do.

 This is a quickie and easy salad at its best…

 

EASY BREEZY SALAD

2-3 slices of avocado, chopped
½ a tomato, chopped
¼ cucumber, sliced and quartered
Extra-virgin olive oil
A sprinkle of Kosher salt

 

  1. Place all the avocado, tomato and cucumber pieces on the side of the plate.  Drizzle with a bit of the olive oil and sprinkle some salt over them.  Done!!!

 

It’s refreshing, crispy and delicious.  No need to bother with a dressing, but if you want, you can drizzle any vinaigrette you might have on hand.  It’s up to you…

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Guacamole

13 Aug

I just came back from a few days visiting my family in Miami.  And in Miami, just like in Puerto Rico, people sell produce at the street lights.  A few days back we bought 4 avocados for $5.  Amazing…  because they were all good avocados.  Sometimes when they sell them to you that cheap is because they’re not so good on the inside.  And with avocados, it’s a crap shoot.  Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you need to throw a whole avocado away.

I said they were all good, but some were too ripe and they were smashed underneath the skin next to the ones that were still under-ripe.  And that only left me one alternative to enjoy them – make an awesome Guacamole.

 

 

GUACAMOLE

1 avocado, if the flesh is firm, cut into small pieces
½ large tomato, peeled and finely diced
¼ medium onion, finely diced
The juice of 1 criollo lemon or lime
A drizzle of olive oil – about 1 tbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbs of fresh parsley (optional)

 

  1. Mix everything in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Let it stand in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors meld together. 

 

This version ended up being more mashed than what I usually like it.  But remember we started out with mashed avocados.   When I make it again, I post another picture so you can see the difference in texture.  And That’s really the only difference because the taste is equally delicious.

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