Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

avocado

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Pickled Shrimp Ceviche

By

Back a few years ago I shared that I worked for a time helping to open a Cajun restaurant nearby in the far reaches of the DFW metroplex; I’d always wanted to peek behind the curtain of the restaurant industry and I was intrigued by the skills and gentle manner of the authentic Cajun chef running the place.

He was raised outside of New Orleans, came from a very colorful background personally, was immensely talented in the kitchen, and (like myself) profoundly influenced in terms of food by a beloved grandmother and other extended family back home in Louisiana.

Chef M had a killer pickled shrimp recipe (that we made in 5 gallon batches) and worked hard to reproduce what he insisted was a Louisiana Gulf Coast favorite in this Pickled Shrimp Ceviche.

Chef M and we kitchen minions had a lengthy discussion one morning about use of the term “ceviche” for this recipe; some of us pushed the point that ceviche (or cebiche) was historically Peruvian and classically prepared by marinating raw fish or seafood in a tangy, spiced citrus bath (in the Peruvian model that meant limes or what were/are actually less astringent green lemons). The citrus juices not only impart wondrous flavor but denature the proteins in the fish, causing it to appear “cooked” even though by the most strict food chemistry perspective it’s not.

Chef M countered that particularly in the states and Australia the term ceviche has evolved to encompass use of some gently cooked proteins as well as raw seafood, as in the pickled shrimp that we’re using here, and apparently as used for decades by his grandmother back home. It’s ironic how so often our taste buds “run home to mama” in terms of tastes and textures that we enjoyed during our childhoods…

I even double checked the concept with Chef Libby in Austin, and she concurred this recipe unquestionably deserves the ceviche label, and she’s even added a modified version to her catering menu.

He also noted (quite wisely I might add) that citrus-cured raw shrimp has a texture that many find off-putting (I sure as hell do), and that many of the shrimp preparations he grew up with back home involved a lightly cooked (you might even say par-boiled) shrimp.

Bottom line – argue whether it’s ceviche or not as you wish, but unless you’re a formally trained chef from Louisiana, raised cooking Cajun specialties from childhood, I’ll take Chef M’s word over whatever your opinion might be…

Chef M challenged us to give this recipe a chance, and while I’ve modified it a bit in terms of what you see here, this is largely the recipe that Chef M brought to the DFW area from home, and will be a perfect addition to your summer rotation. It’s one of those texture and flavor combinations that’s simply a divine pleasure to eat.

Try it once as written, and then riff on your own version to suit your tastes – I usually throw in a bit more avocado, cucumber, jalapeño, and cilantro when making a batch for us…

3-4 avocados, 1/4-inch dice

1 pound pickled shrimp, 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 cup red onion, chopped medium
1/2 cup cucumber, chopped medium
1/4 cup fresh jalapeño, chopped medium
2 tbsp fresh garlic, minced

1/2 cup cilantro, rough chop (or more)
Juice and zest of one lime
1 and 1/2 tbsp pickling liquid
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cut the shrimp to size and place in a medium bowl.

Into your trusty food processor go the chopped red onion, cucumber, jalapeño, and garlic; pulse to a fine chop/mince (do NOT puree). Add the mixture to the shrimp in the bowl.

Stir in the chopped cilantro, lime juice, lime zest, pickling liquid, and lemon juice.

If serving in the next 30-40 minutes, add the diced avocados and stir to mix well, making sure all the avocado pieces are coated with the mixture in the bowl. If not serving in the next 30 minutes, cover and throw in the fridge, adding the avocado 15-20 minutes before service.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Avocado Strawberry Salsa

By

Now and again we stumble upon a flavor combination that just works.

It’s usually something that’s more simple than complicated, and often ends up being a riff on some food item that we’ve enjoyed for years and just decided to tweak a bit to see what happens.

Like many of you, we’ve enjoyed our share of fresh fruit salsa over the years. The food pairing that first comes to mind relates to our love of grilled fish tacos, and fish tacos scream for a great, spicy as hell, luscious fruit salsa, along with a mouth-puckering, vinegar-based slaw.

Hailing from Texas, peach salsas tend to dominate the fruit salsa landscape in these parts, but time spend in Western Washington back in the day taught us the potential of fruit salsas based on many other tasty fruits, including juicy summer strawberries.

There are lot of great strawberry salsa recipes floating around out there, though a few weeks ago I started playing around with adding avocado (diced) to a couple of different fruit salsa preps. After a number of tasty but texturally weak attempts, it became overtly clear that a barely ripe, pretty damned firm avocado was needed here, to maintain shape and preserve texture in the salsa mixture but still bring a strong avocado flavor statement to the table.

Adding avocado also calls for more heat (use your pepper of choice, but we like a combination of serrano and jalapeño here) and a bit more lime juice than you might have used before.

My lovely wife fought me for the last spoon of this recipe a few days back (dammit, I’m not kidding about that), and insisted this was the best danged fruit salsa she’d ever imagined.

Hot damn, that’s pretty high praise around our camp. Try this one while summer’s best strawberries are in…

Zest and juice from 2 medium or one large lime
1-2 tsp honey or maple syrup
1/4 tsp (or to taste) good salt

2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled, diced
1/2 large firm avocado, diced
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 medium jalapeño (or serrano) peppers, stemmed, seeded, diced
2/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Optional
Grind or two of fresh ground pepper
Sprinkle of good paprika
Pinch of minced fresh garlic or granulated garlic

Get started by zesting at least one lime and juicing both; combine the honey or maple syrup and salt with the lime juice and set aside.

Now hull and dice the strawberries, dice the onion and jalapeño, and chop the cilantro. Stir all three into the lime juice, coating the strawberries well. Now prep the avocado and stir into the mixture, again coating the ingredients thoroughly with the lime juice.

Add any or all of the optional ingredients, adjust for salt and lime juice, and throw in the fridge for 10-20 minutes to let the flavors meld a bit. Stir once more before serving.

Enjoy, and be prepared to explain why you didn’t make a bigger batch.

The Older Bolder Life Avocado Monday: Bacon, Green Onion, and Avocado Dip

By

Once again unintentionally dating myself a bit, I have to admit I grew up during what was probably the peak of the “French Onion Dip” era. You know, the dip recipe made using a carton of sour cream and the little packet of French onion soup mix. And while the ensuing mixture tasted like a little like a chemistry experiment gone awry, this dip showed up on the chip and dip table of many a gathering during my youth, and there was usually a crowd fighting over the best dipping chips and elbowing for prime position in front of the bowl. Oh my (deep sigh).

Just this past week we took a step back in time (to those French onion dip days) when Chef Libby in Austin shared this recipe with me, something she’d been working on for a catering event several weeks ago.

She is a huge fan of avocados, and had tweaked this recipe to serve with a big crudités platter for an event she’d done just after PaleoFx for one of the vendors. Sautéing the thinly sliced green onions in the bacon fat is a stroke of genius, and produces a flavor (in a real food way) very similar to the old-school dip recipe above.

Bacon is always good, no matter what, and the tartness of the yogurt (and the lime), combined with a bit of heat from a finely diced pepper (we favor serranos here) pack an amazing punch that’s surprisingly tasty. We dipped sliced raw vegetables in this recipe, and slathered it over grilled pastured-beef burger patties.

Wow, this one is good.

2-3 slices bacon, cooked crisp, drained, and crumbled
3 large green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 large or 2 small avocados, chopped
1-2 tsp fresh lime juice
3/4 to 1 tsp good salt

Optional
1 additional green onion, white and pale green parts thinly sliced
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, finely diced
2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

Sauté the bacon until crisp, drain, then crumble into a medium bowl.

Using the reserved bacon fat, sauté the green onions until soft and just beginning to caramelize; add to the bowl with the bacon. Stir in the yogurt, salt, lime juice, and avocados, mashing the avocados up as you go, though we like to leave some chunks of avocado to add some texture. Add the diced pepper and cilantro if using.

Top with an additional scallion if desired, and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salad Wednesday: The Texas Mini-Wedge Salad with Buttermilk Sour Cream Dressing

By

I’ve shared in many a recipe post here on the Older Bolder Life about growing up in the South; the South has a wonderful food culture and history and boasts some of the hottest and most innovative food scenes in the country (Houston, NOLA, Atlanta, and Charleston to name a few).

Much of what I remember eating during my childhood and early adulthood was truly simple yet delicious Texan and Southern fare, like great low-and-slow BBQ, fresh-off-the-boat Gulf seafood, mouth-watering Tex-Mex, and even iconic sides like the Texas Wedge Salad.

Nostalgia-invoking powers aside, there’s nothing very fancy about a classic Texas-style wedge salad – it’s a literal wedge of cold, crisp iceberg lettuce, classically drenched in some version of Ranch dressing, with crumbled bacon, fresh-cracked pepper, and if you were dining in a place that was really uptown, maybe even some blue cheese crumbles too.

We still serve up a wedge salad now and again around our camp, but now do this Texas Mini-Wedge Salad with Buttermilk Sour Cream Dressing, topped with bacon, avocado pieces, toasted pepitas or pecans, and some of that “uptown” crumbled blue cheese. You can see from the image that this one perhaps isn’t the “prettiest” salad you’ll serve this week, but it very well might be the tastiest.

Cutting a head of crispy iceberg lettuce into 8 wedges instead of 4 makes this salad easier to manage on the plate and lets more of the tangy, lemony buttermilk sour cream dressing coat everything. By the time you trim a head of lettuce down and remove the wilted outer leaves, you’ll probably want to count on a head of lettuce serving two hungry diners.

A recipe of Buttermilk Sour Cream Dressing
4-8 pieces of thick-sliced bacon, fried crisp, drained and crumbled

2 tight, medium heads of iceberg lettuce, root-end trimmed, wilted leaves removed
2 medium, firm avocados, cut in wedges
1 bunch fresh chives, but into 3/4” pieces
Good salt and fresh-cracked coarse pepper

Optional
Roughly 1/2 cup of toasted pepitas or pecans
Handful of grape or cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup or so of good crumbled blue cheese
Lemon quarters for squeezing

Prep the dressing (hold in the fridge); fry the bacon, crumble, and set aside.

Prep the lettuce, cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into 1/8-head wedges. Cut each mini-wedge crosswise into 2 to 3 inch pieces, and plate artfully. Drop a few tomatoes in if using.

Work a few avocado wedges among the lettuce on each place, drizzle with dressing, then top with the toasted nuts, chives, and blue cheese if using. Spritz with a lemon quarter and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salad Sunday 18 November: Our House Guacamole

By

The Primal/Paleo crowd doesn’t need to be reminded that avocados happen to be one of those superfoods that not only support great health but just taste damn good.

Most avocado fans know that avocados are packed with Vitamin K, Folate, Vitamins C, B5, B6 and E, and offer a good dollop of potassium too, though their principle benefit is the 15 grams (on average) of monounsaturated fat, most of it the monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid (high in good olive oil too).

I recently shared about this recipe on Chi Wulff (a fly fishing blog) –

…my lovely wife has been something of a guacamole ninja since we enjoyed four years in San Antonio years ago during my graduate training; we learned to enjoy authentic TexMex and Mexican guacamoles and still have a batch 2 or 3 times a week to this day.

There are a lot of fancied up recipes for all sorts of up-town guacamoles out there today, and you probably have a family favorite, but what follows is Our House Guacamole recipe we’ve evolved over the years. While I’m working on the rest of dinner, ME can have a batch of this done, ready to savor, in under five minutes.

Being good Texicans, we consider a big bowl of guacamole to be an all purpose condiment (try it slathered over your steak or grilled chicken tonight), or a super-vegetable / all purpose side for any meal. (Some nights a double recipe of guacamole is dinner with a pile of crunchy crudite to dip)…

We don’t measure any ingredient when putting this together anymore; she just drops things in “until it looks right” – give this one a spin if you don’t have a house favorite yet…

2 large, ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, mashed with a fork
3 – 4 tsp fresh lime juice, maybe more to taste
1/2 small red onion, minced
2-4 tbsp finely chopped, seeded roma tomato
1 medium garlic clove, minced, then mashed with salt to a paste
1/2 – 1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp good salt
Generous sprinkle of good paprika/smoked paprika

Consider adding
1-2 stemmed, seeded (membranes too) and diced serranos or jalapenos
3-4 tbsp chopped cilantro (fresh of course)

Start by mashing the minced garlic clove with the salt (you’re making a paste), then combine the remainder of the ingredients and fold roughly wth a fork (we like some texture in ours). Don’t forget the peppers and cilantro either…

While it’s best uber-fresh, if not eating immediately, drop one of the avocado pits in the bowl, spritz with fresh lime juice, then cover tightly with plastic wrap, and throw in the fridge (no more than 2 hours!).

Sprinkle with the paprika before serving.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salsa Sunday 15 July: Libby’s Creamy Avocado

By

Here’s another nifty, avocado-based, dip slash topping slash table salsa slash magic sauce from our compadre Chef Libby down in Austin – Libby’s Creamy Avocado (or Avocado Crema as she likes to prepare it).

Avocados, packed with healthy fats and little soluble carbohydrate baggage, and most importantly, bursting with incredible flavor, end up on the menu around our camp just about every day, even more so during these blistering days of high summer.

Libby serves this not only as a dip (and not just for chips, think for a cold, crispy crudite plate too) but a topping on a spicy grilled chicken breast she often preps for her catering gigs; we’ve just had it on a tropically-spiced, sautéed (grilled would be awesome too) mahi fillet here at home in the past week too.

For those looking to up the game a bit, try sourcing (or making) some genuine crema to sub in for the sour cream…

2 firm-ripe avocados, flesh only
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream (maybe a touch more…) OR genuine crema
2 tbsp good, extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp good apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp + 2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, rough chopped
2 tbsp fennel fronds, chopped fine, optional more for serving
Good salt to taste
Juice from one big lime quarter

Optional – add 1/2 to 1 stemmed and seeded serrano

Into your trusty food processor goes the avocado flesh, sour cream, EVOO, apple cider vinegar, first two tbsp cilantro, and first two tbsp fennel fronds.

Process until smooth; if not thick enough to suit you, add a bit of sour cream, if too thick, add a bit of EVOO or vinegar.

Season to taste with salt; pour into your serving bowl, sprinkle with the additional cilantro and fennel, spritz with the lime juice, and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salsa Sunday 10 June 2018: Tomatillo Avocado Salsa

By

Here’s a great tomatillo and avocado-based salsa that we stir up at least a couple of times a month during the long, hot Texas spring/summer/half of fall season. Avocados are always good, and the tart, almost citrusy burst from the tomatillos complements the rest of the ingredients very, very well.

I first posted this over on ChiWulff.com (fly fishing site) as we traveled up to Livingston (Montana) for our son’s wedding in June of 2016…

…(we) are on the road this week, back home in Montana for Jake’s wedding this weekend. On the way up, we stopped for the night in Cheyenne (great town) and asked our motel clerk for her favorite local dining spots; she steered us to a little hole in the wall Mexican food place (El Charrito).

The service was stellar, the food was very good, but the highlight was a bowl of a rich, smooth and creamy, green salsa. Just tart enough with wave of herbal cilantro and the classic back of the tongue heat of serrano peppers, it was astoundingly delicious and prompted a minor scuffle (I lost) for the last dip-able chip in the bowl.

After a bit of needling, a barrage of compliments and very near shameless begging, the matron of the place dictated the following recipe out and I scribbled it on a spare napkin hastily pulled from the stack…

We’ve tweaked it around the edges a bit since then (more serranos for one thing), but this one’s very close to the recipe we wrote on the napkin that night.

2 pounds tomatillos (roughly 30), husked, rinsed, rough chopped
2 firm, medium avocados, pitted, peeled, rough chopped
2 bunches fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (about a cup and a half)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, may need more
3-4 serrano chiles, stemmed, leave the seeds
3-4 green onions, trimmed, rough chopped
1/2 to 1 tbsp good salt

Wash and prep the vegetables.

Into a large blender or food processor go the tomatillos, then rough chop with a couple of short pulses. Now add the remainder of the ingredients and puree until it reaches your desired consistency. Cover and chill if not using immediately.

This makes roughly 4 cups, enough for a dinner with friends; it’s easy to cut in half or make more pending the crowd. If holding a bit that’s leftover, drop one of the avocado pits into the airtight container and squeeze a bit more lime juice over the top.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salsa Sunday 3 June: Quick Columbian Guacamole

By

Another one of our family favorites, this Quick Columbian Guacamole became a fixture in our rotation after seeing a similar version in the Wall Street Journal of all places over a decade ago.

Tweaking around the edges to suit our family palate, we’ve finally settled more or less on this recipe, though we sub different peppers all the time pending what happens to be fresh and handy (jalapeno, fresno, even a poblano now and then).

Now that summer is in full bloom, we find this smooth guacamole version is a perfect pairing with just about any sizzling protein off the grill, and often we’re smearing a big spoonful across a pork chop or ribeye and the accompanying cherry tomatoes too.

With the amount of lime juice in the recipe (fresh is best as always), we can even hold this one for 24 hours (spritz a bit more lime juice on before storing in an airtight container), though there are rarely any leftovers.

2 large avocados, pitted, peeled, rough chopped
1/2 (or more) cup chopped cilantro
1/2 (or more) cup sweet onion, chopped
2 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
Juice of 2 large limes (may need more)
1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Using your trusty food processor or blender, combine the avocado, cilantro, onion, chiles, and lime juice until creamy. Add the water 1/4 cup at a time, pulsing until smooth. Taste and adjust for lime, cilantro, and whatever pepper you’re using.

Scoop into your serving bowl, spritz with a lime quarter and sprinkle with a bit of good kosher salt. Cover and throw in the fridge if your not using this immediately…

Enjoy.