It
seems we are reaching a stage that the kitchen can become the
smallest room in the house since its use is becoming almost obsolete.
We blame our busy lives so as not to bother to cook or to even
prepare simple salads. Supermarkets make money off of our lack of
desire to chop up lettuce, providing it already chopped in a plastic
bag. Fruits and its various combinations are provided in plastic
packaging. All of this so called convenience comes with a price, and
not only at the cash register. Plastic packaging in the end has to
find its way into the garbage. Recycling plants do not take plastics
that have been in contact with raw foods but pick it out and send it
to landfill. The reason is simple – the possibility of
contamination. Our news services periodically carry announcements of
contaminates in packaged salads warning of recalls.
Now
we have a new face on the produce prepackaged shelf, the avocado.
Sobeys Supermarkets are selling one avocado cut in half with its pit
removed and fully peeled. It is packaged in a sexy tight plastic
seal with thin colourful wrapping displaying the manufacturer's name
and all kinds of information on the back. Sobeys sells this avocado
for $3.99, and at today's price a fresh whole avocado sells at Sobeys
for $1.99. This newly packaged avocado has caught the attention of
many, even across the border in the US. Maybe the Sobeys corporation
will see this as beneficial publicity promoting its brand name to the
public, without question they will not think of the potential
environmental impact of thousands of packages heading towards
landfill.
So
as a chef who has cooked for so many years and as someone who has
peeled enough avocados to have lost count I simply want you to see
how easy it is.
First
take the fresh avocado in your hand, with a sharp knife cut down to
the pit and run that right around the full circumference of the
avocado. Then in one quick and easy move give it a twist and it will
come apart in your hand.
Now
you have the avocado in two halves. Second act is to get the pit
out. Again it truly is simple. Using the knife you had to cut the
avocado, tap the pit with the blade across the length of the pit so
the knife is actually piercing into it, then again give it a slight
twist left to right and the pit comes out on the knife. Give it a
light tap with something like a spoon and the pit freely falls off
the knife.
Here it is halved and pitted, the decision on how to eat it up to you. Many people enjoy the avocado with a spoon straight out of its natural bowl, its skin. I have used a small melon baller to drop lovely round shaped bombs of goodness into a salad. For breakfast, I take the two halves and with a teaspoon open the hole a little more where the pit was. Then I break an egg into each half of the avocado and cook it under the boiler till the egg is done. Looks fantastic on a plate and tastes out of this world.
Still
if you prefer to peel then here is the third and final act. A small
incision at the edge of the skin will allow you to peel away this
outer natural protective layer as easy as the plastic off the
prepacked one sold at Sobeys. If you prefer you can take a butter
knife and run it all around just inside the avocado half between the
layer of skin and its flesh. Then you are ready to slice away; put
it on a burger or into a salad, your choices are only limited by your
imagination.
The
reality is simple, there is nothing difficult in chopping lettuce or
mixing various greens for variety and taste in your salad. So-called
busy lives in the final analysis comes across as a simple excuse.
After all how long does it take to peel an orange, 30 seconds? An
avocado is no different. If you don't care about the packaging and
the environmental impact, that is your choice. If you don't care for
the fact that one packaged and peeled avocado costs as much as two
natural ones, that is your choice, but
do hang onto that job for dear life! Though think about this:
that prepackaged avocado has a shelf life for 55 days! I had one
very strange comment on Facebook about this where an individual had
spoken of some mystical 30 minute window of perfect freshness. My
response is simple: on day 55 after purchase (or best before date)
some 1320 hours had passed and their theory blown out of sensibility.
Finally,
think about this, those who package and sell this avocado only resent
the so-called 'most perfect' ones. How many do they throw out into
the garbage before the perfect one appears?
An island breakfast with Avocado & Egg
4 avocados
8 eggs
seasoning
8 slices genoa salami, hot
balsamic vinegar to drizzle
Cut the avocados in half and take the pits out.
With a spoon gently remove some of the avocado flesh to open up the holes more,
keeping the flesh aside.
Place avocados on baking dish, crack one egg at a time and drop into the hole making sure the avocado doesn't tip over and spill the egg out.
Season to taste.
Place the egg and avocado under the broiler and cook till egg is done.
Use the left-over avocado flesh with a spray of fresh lime or lemon juice and a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar and create a paste or spread with a spoon, mixing everything together.
On a plate cut the genoa salami into quarters, place two halves of cooked avocado with egg and drop salami around, drizzle lightly with balsamic vinegar.
Toast some slices of baguette and spread avocado paste and serve.
(Serves 4)
