Savory Avocado Cream Puffs

Behold the next level of party snacks! The Savory Avocado Cream Puff stuffed with avocado cream cheese and topped with smoked peanuts and radish sprouts! These creamy puffs of perfection are what party snacks should be. They're filling, but still surprisingly light. Even your vegetarian friends will like them, because unlike most of my dishes these contain no meat! I know! I'm as surprised as you are. Even though I made these look fancy, I recommend taking a page out of The Oatmeal's book and drench these things in Sriracha.

I don't have much to say about these puffs, besides the fact that you need to make them for the next party you attend or throw. I'm just going to let these photos that Katy Weaver took do most of the speaking. 

Savory Avocado Cream Puffs

I've decided not to include a traditional recipe on this post. This dish is basically built out of three parts, the choux paste, avocado cream cheese, and the peanuts.

Choux Paste (The Puffs)

Honestly The Joy of Cooking has an amazing recipe that I used to make the puffs. If you don't have a copy of The Joy of Cooking then get off the internet and stop reading "12 easy crockpot recipes" on Pinterest and get yourself a real cookbook.  You'll thank yourself. 

Whipped Avocado Cream Cheese

In a large mixing bowl whip together a diced avocado, a thing of cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of lime juice, and 1 tablespoon of whole milk until it becomes fluffy. Be sure the avocado becomes fully incorporated. Thats it. Simple.

Smoked Peanuts

I used my charcoal grill and some mesquite wood chips to smoke my peanuts. Then I used a coffee grinder to make a peanut dust, I also stirred in some paprika and cayenne pepper to give it some heat. After these three steps I just assembled the puffs and impressed my friends. 

Split Pea Soup with Fish & Mint Meringues

If you're a fan of this blog then you know that unusual combinations are sort of a running theme and this post is no different. The idea for fish meringues sprouted in my mind after a trip to the local Asian grocery store. It seemed too weird to be terrible. The fish meringues are like little pillows swimming atop a sea of green. The two work together to create a surprising perfect early spring dish. 

I don't have anything funny to say about this post. But I do have a warning: if you decide to eat more than two servings of this split pea soup in one day, prepare for some green poops. Just accept it and own it. Maybe you can eat a bunch of this soup on March 16th then everything about you can be festive for St. Patricks day!

Split Pea Soup

• 1 lbs. (16 oz) Split Peas
• Chicken or Vegetable Stock
• 1/2 large Onion diced 
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 cloves Garlic minced
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 teaspoon Coriander
•  Salt & Pepper to taste
• Spinach

1. Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a medium to large sauce pan over medium high heat. Add the coriander, salt and pepper. Continue sauteing until the onions are golden brown. 
2. Add the peas. Saute the peas with the onions for a few minutes. 
3. Add the stock, milk and water. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally.
4. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
5. Add half of the spinach to a food processor. Pour the soup into the food processor. Add the rest of the spinach and blend together for a minute.  
6. Serve in a bowl with the meringues and extra virgin olive oil.

Fish & Mint Meringues

• 3 Egg Whites
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon Fish Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Mint Leaves minced
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 325°
2. In a large mixing bowl whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until they get really foamy and bubbly, I'm sure there's some French term for this.
3. Add the sugar and cream of tartar. Continue beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Whisk in the fish sauce, mint, and cayenne. 
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out the meringue with a teaspoon and make dollops of meringue on the sheet. They don't have to be fancy, they're going to be crumbled up anyway.
5. Bake at 325° for 12 minutes. After the 12 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven for another 10 minutes.  Take the meringues out of the oven and let them cool until the outer shell is hard. 
6. Once the meringues are cooled crumble them up and serve on top of the split pea soup.

All these peautiful picture taken by Katy Weaver

Palak White Cheddar Pastries

Planning on throwing a party sometime soon? If you are then I suggest making these appetizers. If you're not then you can make them alone and contemplate why you're not invited to more dinner parties.

Tillamook dairy was kind enough to send me some of their delicious cheese. If you've never had Tillamook cheese before it makes store brand cheese seem like some sort of cheap rubber substitute they used in WWII. The sharpness of the white cheddar cuts right through the spinach and Indian spices, but doesn't overpower them. The pastry, spinach, cheese and spices seem to form a team that works extremely well together, much like the "A Team," but for copyright reasons let's say "An a Team."

Palak White Cheddar Pastries

Yields 18 pastries

• 2 bags of packaged Spinach chopped
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/2 Lemon juiced
• 2 Tomatoes diced
• 1 Large Onion diced
• 4 cloves Garlic diced
• 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Ginger ground
• 1/2 teaspoon Coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 1 Tablespoon Greek Yogurt
• 8 oz. Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar cubed
• 1 Egg whisked
• 1 package (9 x 9.5 in) Puff Pastry* thawed

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Add the spinach, water, and lemon juice to a medium-sized sauce pan, cover and heat over medium heat until all the leaves have wilted down.
2. While the spinach is cooking, add the onions, garlic, and olive oil to a large skillet and cook over medium heat until the onions have slightly caramelized. Add the spices to the onions. After cooking for 3-5 minutes stir in the tomatoes and yogurt. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add the onion and tomato mixture to the spinach. Let simmer for yet another 5 minutes.
3. Use a food processor to blend until you get the consistency of chunky peanut butter.
4. Cut the pastries into 1 x 1 inch squares. place evenly on a greased cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place two cheese cubes at the center of each pastry square. Scoop 1 Teaspoon of the spinach on top of each square.
5. Pinch two opposite edges of the square together, as pictured below. Brush each folded pastry with the whisked egg. Bake at 400° until golden brown, which should be about 15 minutes.
6. Serve with rice and enjoy!

*Yes, I use store-bought puff pastry. In the words of the greatest poet of our generation, "ain't no one got time for that."

Coconut Lime Basmati Rice

• 1 cup Basmati Rice
• 1 can Coconut Milk
• 1 Lime zested

1. Rinse the rice 3 times. Add everything to a rice cooker. Wait about 20 minutes. Boom you're done.

Katy Weaver once again out doing herself with some outstanding photography.