Instant Love: Avocado "Fries"

"Instant Love" is my new tag idea for quick bites that don't really require a serious recipe (although our recipes are always more like recommendations than dogmatic prescriptions).  These posts will generally have few ingredients and can come together quickly.  "Instant Love" is a simple, delicious food idea put forth with, well love.  Obviously.

So, when my brother spots something exceptionally delicious-looking online, it's fairly certain he will attempt to create the dish within a week's time.  So, you can understand why I was thrilled when he sent me this link about crispy, creamy avocado fries about a week before I was slated to arrive in NY for a family visit.

Sure enough, my first night in NY with the fam was spent drooling over these delights, and trying to coax my mother to taste a bite (she is, as you can probably tell already, an extremely picky eater.)  Of course, Joey and I didn't fight her too hard...more for us!  They're really easy to prepare if you have a just ripe, but still firm large avocado sliced up nicely, hot canola oil, and panko.  We added a few squeezes of lime juice and were, well, blissed out.

--K, blissed out.

Welcome spring with a Green Goddess

The internet surely yields overwhelming search results for "green goddess dressing," but this version is a serious winner: it's rich yet light and silky, flavorful but not overpowering, and comfortably at home as an accompaniment for crudité, spread thickly on a torn hunk of baguette, and drizzled on steamed vegetables or roasted fish.   My favorite use is to place a few spoonfuls of it on top of a simple green salad with poached chicken (as seen above) for a light and satisfying meal (the flax seed tortilla chips weren't a bad partner, either).  The story Molly Wizeberg wrote about this dressing and Chez Panisse appeared along with the recipe in the May 2009 Bon Appetit.  I was curious and made the dressing as soon as I read Wizenberg's story last year, and the Green Goddess has since entrenched itself in a many a salad at my house.  Don't let the long ingredient list deter you--it's a dressisng, so you basically whirl everything together in a processor.  I'm happy to welcome the Green Goddess again this year with spring's warmth and cheery tulips...

--K, feeling awfully thankful for wondrous avocados

Green Goddess Dressing

See how lovingly it slumps on your salad?  If you look closely, you can see flecks of the various herbs through the creamy light green base.