La Platicona Habla: Tastes, Passions and Pursuits

I have made some guacamole dips in my life, but I've never made it with Italian parsley and poblano peppers until today. I found this recipe in a Rick Bayless cookbook, but I was shocked to find that the recipe did not contain any onions. I cheated and added some anyways, although it would taste just fine without any. The recipe presented here doesn't reflect all of the ingredients Rick uses, including a hard queso fresco and raddish, but you can add these ingredients at the end.

Poblano peppers are also called pasilla peppers and are located in your grocer's produce aisle where the jalapenos and serrano peppers are. They come in a deep green color and are about the size of a small hand. They require some prep that you may want to do the day before if you plan on serving this at a BBQ or on the fly after work.

You will need:
- 2 poblano peppers
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 plum tomatoes
- 3 ripe avocados
- 2 key limes or 1 lime, juiced
- handful of chopped Italian parsley
- salt to taste
- 1/4 white onion, diced (optional, just mix in at the end)
- chips for dipping (I suggest blue corn)

Step One: Turn the oven to broil. Place a piece of foil on a cookie sheet and place the poblano peppers, tomatoes, and garlic cloves (with their skins still on) on top. Roast these for a few minutes and turn them so they blister on all sides. This takes only about 5-7 minutes if your oven is preheated. Remove the ingredients from the oven. Place the tomatoes and chiles in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Place a dish towel around this to retain the heat. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel the garlic and set aside. When chiles and tomatoes are done resting, remove the skins from the poblanos and tomatoes. Chop the tomatoes up and place them in a bowl. Remove the seeds from the chiles; chop the chiles up finely with the garlic and place in the bowl with the tomatoes. You can set this aside overnight if you want to serve this dip the next day.

Step Two: Take the avocados, cut in half and remove the pits. Scrape the flesh into the bowl with the tomato mixture. Using two spoons, gently mix the ingredients together until well incorporated and the avocado is mush. Add lime juice, italian parsley, and salt to taste. Eat this up!

This alternative recipe for guacamole had a deep smoky flavor from the roasted chiles and is especially delicious to folks (like my mom) who hate cilantro. I prefer the dip with onion, but it is not necessary here.

Labels: avocado, guacamole, Italian parsley, pasilla peppers

The avocado is a member of the laurel family and has very aromatic leaves. Avocados have very little sugar or starch, and have up to 30% oil (although this is the "good fat" -that is, monosaturated fat). Its native name, "ahuacatl" comes from Nahuatl, the indigenous language of central Mexico. The type of avocado you see in the grocery store is usally the Hass avocado, a variety from the Guatemalan lowlands.

Important for maintaining their flavor, you should never refridgerate these fruits until they are absolutely ripe. You can accelerate this process by placing the avocado in a paper bag with a plantain or banana. After they are ripe, you can put them in the fridge, otherwise, you risk damaging the fruit.

You will need: 2 or 3 ripe avocados; handful of chopped cilantro leaves; 1/4 c of red onion minced; 1 ripe tomato, diced; 3 cloves of crushed and minced garlic; 2 seeded and minced serrano peppers or jalapeno; salt; juice from 1 lime.

Step One: Cut avocados in half and remove the bone. Spoon out the flesh into a bowl and mash it with a fork or masher until smooth.

Step Two: Add onions, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, serrano peppers; and tomatoes. Season with salt. Serve with any meal or as a dip for chips.

Labels: avocado, guacamole

This is a bastardized version of a delicious Peruvian dinner I had a coworker's house last year. I took the basic idea of a potato salad and combined it with some of the ingredients I had at this delectible supper. To Ms. Cave - I thank you for this inspiration of purple passion.

You will need: 4 purple potatoes boiled and chopped into large pretty pieces, head of bib lettuce, 1 avocado cut into pieces, 3 hardboiled eggs peeled and quartered, cheese, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, lemon.

Step One: Boil the potatoes whole for 10 minutes, drain and plunge into a cold water bath. Quarter these.

Step Two: Boil the eggs (add eggs after water boils) for 10 minutes. Plunge into a cold bath of water. Peel and quarter.

Step Three: Tear of large pieces of lettuce and arrange on plate. Cut avocado and place half on each plate. Slice your favorite cheese for this dish. I recommend goat cheese or queso fresco. Place potatoes and eggs on plate, drizzle everything with olive oil and red white wine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze a small piece of lemon over avocado.

Serve cold.

Labels: avocado, eggs, potato, salad