Tuesday, October 23, 2012

MoFo #23: Avocado pesto dip!

Yo dawg, I heard you like green things.  So I put some green things in your green things:

Avocado pesto dip

By which I mean that I made avocado pesto dip.

I've had the idea of making a pesto with avocado rather than oil for some time, because I'm kind of crazy about pesto and also kind of crazy about avocado.  MoFo finally got me to do it!  I googled around and noticed that most recipes call for using an avocado to replace both the nuts and the oil, and I decided to start that way and then added the nuts if it seemed like it needed it.  It didn't-- the texture was perfectly creamy and rich without being overboard with just one avocado.

I started with this recipe for avocado pesto by Chef Chloe and tweaked a little to my liking.  Ton of basil-- about 3c loosely packed (enough to fill my dinky ol' food processor).  One avocado.  No pine nuts.  (There are just a few on top as garnish.)  3 cloves garlic, 1 lemon worth of juice, 1/4 tsp salt.  Puree.  Eat!

Initially I put this out as a snack for the Emperor with just some whole wheat crackers.  He ate a cracker or two and then looked up at me and said, "Um, mom?  Can you put some vegetables out too please?"

Seriously.  I almost died.  Then I put out some carrots and some broccoli and we ate a ton of dip together.  This was sooooo good.  I want to eat it again tomorrow.

Well, I was in a hell of a rush this morning-- trying to have some fun with the kids, get a couple things done around the house AND simultaneously study for the two midterms I had today.  (Both of which were fine.  Not great, but fine.)  So I didn't get a picture of the Emperor.  But here's the Magician attempting to use his apple slice on his tiny pumpkin:

Being a baby is like playing a text adventure


1 comment:

Amey said...

squeee! What an adorable veggie request from the Emperor!!!! And such a sweet picture of the Magician. He looks so confused: why is this pumpkin not a dip??

Avocado instead of oil in pesto is GENIUS. I can't wait to try this. It sounds amazing!