Avocado and Watercress Salad

I was thumbing through the light recipes on Epicurious looking for an idea for lunch. I came across this recipe for an avocado and watercress salad, which was featured in Gourmet magazine. This recipe evidently originates from Natori, a Japanese restaurant in New York. The recipe looked so great. A soy sauce based dressing that includes grated apples? How interesting! And how can you go wrong when avocados are a main feature to the dish? Plus I love the bitter taste of watercress.

I think this dish took me a whopping 15 minutes to make—perfect for a lunch. I even had some leftover to have along with my dinner. The dressing is so tasty that you should save any extra dressing for salads later in the week. I bet it would also be great served over steamed veggies, potatoes, or even a fish.

A hint: When preparing the watercress (it needs to be just the leaves and thin stems), hold the stems of the bunch in one hand. With your other hand take a chef’s knife and at an angle slide the blade along the stems away from yourself such that the leaves and thin stems are sliced off leaving behind the thicker stems. Keep doing this until all leaves are removed.

Okay, here is the recipe from Gourmet magazine (May 2008), which makes 6 servings:

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 1 tablespoon grated sweet onion such as Vidalia or Walla Walla (use large holes of a box grater)
• 1/4 cup finely grated peeled Gala apple (use small holes of box grater)
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 cups watercress (thin stems and leaves only; from 1 large bunch)
• 1 firm-ripe avocado

1. Stir together vinegar, onion, apple, soy sauce, and sugar until sugar has dissolved, then stir in oil.
2. Just before serving, toss watercress with enough dressing to coat.
3. Quarter, pit, and peel avocado, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Gently toss with watercress.

Enjoy!

Mahi-Mahi with Blood Orange, Avocado, and Red Onion Salsa

Finally Spring is arriving in New York, which means that bathing suit season is creeping up around the corner. Got it. Note to self—Ben & Jerry’s stash needs to be replaced with fat free sorbet, fries must be eliminated from diet, no more afternoon snacks are allowed, and cheese plates…well, let’s not go too crazy.

In my quest for a light dinner I found this recipe for mahi-mahi with salsa from Bon Appetit’s February 2005 issue. This is an extremely simple recipe that is quick, tasty, and will help you fit into that yellow polka dotted bikini come summertime (or man-kini for you courageous guys out there). The recipe calls for mahi-mahi, but really any white fish should work. The fishmonger at my market did not have mahi-mahi so I used hake. Tilapia should also be a good substitute.

The recipe calls for sautéing the fish in a skillet, which will give the fish a nice lightly browned top. However, if you live in a tiny apartment without an exhaust fan in the kitchen “nook” area like myself, you may want to resort to baking the fish instead. The fish won’t look as fancy, but your apartment—and your guests—will thank you for it. Just set the oven to 350 degrees, wrap the fish in tin foil with some olive oil, and cook for 35-40 minutes per pound.

Lastly, the recipe suggests that you top the fish with the salsa. I found that there was so much salsa that it completely covered the fish (yes, there is a fish hidden in that picture above). For presentation purposes, I suggest serving the salsa on the side or under the fish with a little reserved for the top.

So here is the Bon Appetit recipe for 2 servings:

• 1 blood orange, Cara Cara orange, or regular orange
• 1/2 cup 1/3-inch cubes avocado
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 2 teaspoons minced red jalapeño
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 6-ounce mahi-mahi fillets

1. Using small sharp knife, cut peel and white pith from orange. Working over small bowl, cut between membranes to release segments.
2. Add avocado, onion, jalapeño, and lime juice to oranges in bowl; stir gently to blend.
3. Season salsa to taste with salt.
4. Heat oil in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Add fish to skillet and sauté until brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
5. Place 1 fillet on each of 2 plates. Spoon salsa atop fish and serve.

Enjoy!

Monkfish with Avocado Sauce

My friend Susan was in California a couple weeks ago and visited an organic farm that grows avocados. As a result she came back to New York with a huge bag filled with this fabulous fruit. Seeing that I love, love, love avocados, when she offered for me to snag one from her bag I gladly accepted!

Now I obviously love guacamole, but I was interested in trying something different with my avocado. Since I am a big sauce girl (some say saucy, too), I decided to make an avocado sauce. I figured it would go really well with either chicken or seafood. Seeing that I haven’t cooked seafood in a while, I opted for this choice.

When choosing a fish to accompany the avocado sauce, I wanted a white fish that would let the sauce shine. After perusing the fish counter at my market, I decided on the monkfish. If you are not familiar with monkfish, it is very similar in texture to lobster. In fact it is often referred to as “poor man’s lobster”. Seeing that I love lobster but my budget doesn’t let me dine on it nightly, this fish was the perfect fit. I think tilapia and cod would also work well for this recipe (though note that the method of cooking these other fish would differ).

One last thing, this is a super easy recipe that is difficult to mess-up. So if you are looking for a fool proof yet gourmet-like dish to make, this is a perfect choice.

So here you go (per serving):

Fish

• 1 Monkfish filet
• 1 tsp Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Rub olive oil onto monkfish filet. Top off with salt and pepper.
3. Place the filet onto a sheet of tin foil and loosely wrap (like a package). Then move wrapped fish onto a baking sheet.
4. Bake in oven 10 minutes per inch of thickness.

Sauce

• ½ cup Haas avocado
• Juice from ½ lemon
• 2 tbsp Sour cream
• 2 tbsp Milk
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tbsp Chopped red onion
• 1 tbsp Chopped parsley (optional)

1. In a large bowl mix the avocado, lemon juice, sour cream, and milk until fully pureed. (You can use a food processor, but I just used a whisk).
2. Add salt to taste.
3. Spoon sauce onto bottom of serving dish. Then top with the cooked monkfish filet. Garnish with the chopped onion and parsley.

Enjoy!