Sunday, January 30, 2011

Avocados & Grapefruit Make Me Feel That Way

My father sent me a box of fat Texan avocados and ruby grapefruit around C'mas. I ate the avocado with tostadas and the grapefruit with a serrated spoon.

It never occurred to me to eat them together.

Then I came across a recipe combining them, in Bryant Terry's
Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine (De Capo Press, 2009)
(recommended by a Facebook friend; I got it at the library).

The "vegan" label does the book a disservice--sounds like preachy cardboard, but Terry's no moralist; he just remixed some standards to freshen them up.

You'll find sample recipes at Bryant Terry's site, but not this one, so here it is. (I abridged the instructions tho, cause they're long).

Carmelized Grapefruit, Avocado, and Watercress Salad, with Grapefruit Vinaigrette

VINAIGRETTE
Blend in blender:

juice of 2 grapefruits, cooked down to 3 T (simmmer 8-10 min.)
2 t red wine vinegar
1/2 t Dijon mustard
1 sm. clove garlic, minced
1 T minced fresh mint
coarse sea salt
7 T extra-virgin olive oil
fresh ground white pepper

2 large ripe but firm Hass avocados, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
2 bunches watercress, trimmed of tough stems
2 large grapefruits
1/2 c. organic raw cane sugar

Slice the 2 grapefruits horizontally (across the sections). Dredge with sugar, and pan fry. [I think it's easier to broil.]

Gently toss all in vinaigrette & serve immediately.

________________
Actually, I think recipe has too much going on--avocado is easily overwhelmed.
I simply broiled the sugared grapefruit slices in my toaster oven, then ate them with room-temp avocado.
Sweet and creamy and zingy.

Bryant provides soundtrack recommendations for each recipe, and this one's is "Sweet Thing," by Rufus with Chaka Khan.

But I choose "Make You Feel That Way," by Blackalicious.
If The Sound of Music had been Hip Hop, Julie Andrews would've sung something like this instead of "My Favorite Things."



"Times I feel I wanna shout, man it's real that way,
Wanna think of things that make you feel that way."

3 comments:

momo said...

LOVE that Rufus/Chaka Khan song!
What a great recipe! I have been avoiding grapefruit because of the meds I'm taking, but this may tempt me to try it again, just this once.

Fresca said...

Can you eat any citrus? Would be good with oranges too, I'd think.

momo said...

Yeah, it's only grapefruit that has this effect, as I learned: http://joannao.blogspot.com/2007/02/sad-news-for-grapefruit-lovers-who-are.html