And the aioli is back, doing double-duty as a salad dressing, as I suggested in my last sustainable Nordic shrimp post. Okay, after my rant about local and sustainable fish here I go being a hypocrite and writing a recipe with avocado and mango. Last I checked there weren’t too many of either kicking around Montreal’s abundant fruit-bearing trees. I’m seeping sarcasm, I know, and I apologize. But if it justifies the purchase at all, I didn’t buy the avocado in this recipe (I did buy the mango…). The avocado was gifted to me, and it would be worse to let the avocado go to waste than refuse to eat it out of a twisted sense of locavore morality, wouldn’t it? You could replace it with roasted zucchini, sweet potato, or corn. Those are nice and local. The mango you could replace with…no, there is no replacement for mango. And there’s really no replacement for avocado. Looks like I’ll be moving south.
Tomato, Orange Pepper, and Avocado Salad
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped (Lufa Farm’s are in season year-round…and in the summer are particularly sweet from all the sunlight in that rooftop greenhouse)
1 yellow pepper, seeds and membrane removed, and chopped (or red or orange. Green is a little bitter, but do as you wish. The Lufa Farms ones are still fairly sweet)
1/2 mango, cross-hatched and spooned out (Cut it in half around the pit and then make parallel lines about 1/2″ apart in the flesh of the pit-less half. Then make perpendicular lines to these so that when you scoop the flesh out with a spoon it comes out cubed. I do the same for the avocado)
1/2 avocado, cross-hatched and spooned out
For the aioli:
1 egg yolk (if you don’t want to use a raw egg you can leave it out. It just won’t be as creamy)
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (I like a little more than Selengut, so I adjusted to taste)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil or sunflower oil (Selengut recommends not using extra-virgin because it can make the aioli bitter, but as long as your extra-virgin isn’t bitter, your aioli won’t be either. I also support the use of sunflower oil since it’s local and I couldn’t taste the nutty flavour thanks to the wonderfully overwhelming smoked chipotle and a little extra lemon. You’ll also have leftover mayo, so plan for a two days of sandwiches and to share because 1/3 cup of olive oil in two days – the length of time I’ll eat raw egg yolk – all to yourself is a bit too much, even if you’re Greek)*
Freshly ground pepper to taste (or 1/8 tsp)
Chop the salad ingredients (they’re all fruits, but if I say “Chop the fruits” when referring to tomatoes, peppers and avocados I get some furrowed brows in response). Combine all aioli ingredients in a blender except the olive oil. Blend to combine, and then drizzle in the olive oil as the blender is running. Adjust to taste with more lemon or salt or chipotle powder. Put it in a bowl, then into the fridge.
*On the second day I still had about 1/4 cup of aioli, and I also had a sous vide machine…so I froze the aioli, then vacuum-sealed it in food-grad plastic, and put it in a 62.5 C water-bath for 3 hours to pasteurize it without changing the texture. It was now safe to eat again for a few more days! Hurray!
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