Monday, July 4, 2011

Little green monsters

steak and av

This is a strange admission for a food blogger to make, but I don’t exactly have the world’s most adventurous palette. I’m certain I’ve mentioned this little factoid before, but it’s a recurring theme in my life (and it extends to other facets of life, like music, books and film; but I digress). The pattern is usually the same. I greet new things with indifference, if not outright hostility. Eventually, I’ll cave to pressure and give the item a half-hearted sampling. Then, if I like what I taste/see/hear, I will embrace the former object of suspicion with the zeal of a convert. It has happened before, it will happen again.

A perfect example of this is the humble avocado. I couldn’t possibly tell you why I was leery of this particular fruit; perhaps it was the ugly, knobby appearance (one of my “things” is I can’t really embrace food that looks like it was designed by David Cronenberg). Or perhaps there was an association with cilantro, a herb I have tried and will never not detest. But not only has avocado skipped from one side to the other on my mental ledger of things I will and will not eat, it is one of those things, along with lemons, limes, onions and garlic, that are staples of my kitchen. One of my favourite ways to use avocado is to add it to scrambled eggs, but a close second is this simple salsa I came up with. It makes a great dip or burrito topping, but I really hit the jackpot this weekend when I topped a lime, garlic and chili marinated steak with the stuff. It was outstanding, an unexpectedly great flavour combination. Go on; give it a shot.

Avocado, corn and tomato salsa

1 medium tomato, chopped into small chunks
1 avocado, diced
¼ cup diced red onion
½ cup thawed frozen corn
1 jalapeño or red chili pepper, rinsed, seeded and chopped (or ½-1 tsp Tabasco)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 or 2 tablespoons lime juice
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mash together with a fork and refrigerate.

1 comment:

  1. mmmm! i eat avocado probably 4 times a week (seriously) so thanks for this new addition to my line-up!

    my summer avocado staple is a salad of avocado, tomato, cucumber & feta, with fines herbes, olive oil, balsamic & salt. that's it, and it's nothing short of divine (seriously).

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