California attitude

So yes, as Mom insinuated a while back, I am now an avocado snob. The fact of the matter is, I never really liked avocados before I came out hear. I just didn't get it. And when I did get out here, I made fun of Californians and their avocados. Seriously, they eat them like they were they are their own food group. But ... then I had some good avocados. And let me tell you they are something else. A really good avocado is like a creamy bit of heaven, fabulous in taste, texture and appearance. But that said, a blah avocado really doesn't it do it for me. Its just kind of slimy and bland. But a perfectly ripe haas avocado is like a king among common fruits. I could go on.

I happily encountered such an avocado at a produce stand on my way back from Tahoe this weekend. I must admit, I am still not an expert at picking ripe avocados, so maybe I lucked out or maybe the whole barrel was full of them, I don't know. Anyways, I took it back to Berkeley with the intention of making my standard avocado salsa chicken recipe. A twist of fate (namely me spacing and forgetting to buy chicken at the store) let to this vegetarian concoction. The combination of tofu and avocado is really, really good and I highly recommend it:

Warm pan fried tofu with avocado tomato salsa

For the salsa: Cut a perfect california avocado into medium size cubes. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over it. Add a coarsely diced tomato, three diced green onions, and a handful of chopped basil. Crack a little pepper in, mix gently, and set aside.

Cut a block of firm tofu (I like nesoya) into 1" cubes. Thoroughly dust with a mixture of cumin, salt and pepper. Pan fry in olive oil, turning the cubes periodically until the cubes are a pleasant golden color on the outside and the tofu is cooked through. 

Allow the tofu cubes to cool just a bit, and then serve with the salsa spooned over top. 

We had this dish with quinoa on the side. It was a fabulous hippy californian dinner!