Last night we went to a molecular gastronomy restaurant for dinner. It was a 28-course affair of small bites. The meal was simply amazing and something that we needed since we have had a rough year. One of the dishes we had was “guacamole” but that version was nothing like any guacamole I have ever thought of. It was a spicy tomato sorbet wrapped in paper-thin slices of avocado and shaped like a cigar. Needless to say the entire meal fueled my creative juices.
After a late night we also got moving late this morning. We had a quick green salad and this soup for brunch. Here is what I made.
“Guacamole” Soup
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 Haas avocado, peeled and pitted
1 seedless cucumber, cut into chunks (1/8 or cucumber cut into dice for garnish)
1 Persian lime, zested and juiced
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1 cup water
2 pinches salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 dash cayenne
1 pinch chili powder
6 grape tomatoes, cut into fine dice
1 teaspoon tofu sour cream for garnish (optional, but nice)
2 tablespoons broccoli sprouts
Directions:
Combine the avocado, cucumber chunks, lime zest. lime juice, garlic, water, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and chili powder in your blender. Puree until smooth. Taste for seasonings and adjust to your taste.
To serve pour the soup into a bowl and top with diced tomato, diced cucumber, tofu sour cream and broccoli sprouts. Serve cold.
Nutritional Information:
Amount Per Serving
Calories - 197.73
Calories From Fat (59%) - 116.26
Total Fat - 13.87g
Saturated Fat - 1.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 314.43mg
Potassium - 829.32mg
Total Carbohydrates - 20.45g
Fiber - 8.89g
Sugar - 3.39g
Protein - 3.92g
Comments:
This soup tastes like guacamole but the texture is completely different. At our house that is a good thing since my hubby doesn’t like the texture of avocado chunks. I added the cucumber to this soup because I also add it to guacamole, to reduce the calories and fat. Today I choose to top it with fresh tomatoes, but a nice salsa would also be fabulous on top this soup. A little finely diced red onion and cilantro would also be good on top this soup.
Each serving of this soup contains approximately over 800mg of potassium, 700IU of vitamin A, 35mg of vitamin C, 100mcg of folate, 44mcg of vitamin K, and 95mg of phosphorus. This soup does contain more fat than most of recipes, but it is mostly healthy monounsaturated fat.
Overall it is a nice soup with a light flavor and a little heat in the background. This is definitely something that I will be making again.
Unrelated note:
Since this is New Years Day we will be having a traditional southern lucky meal of black-eyed peas.
I hope you are all enjoying the holiday. I will be back later today with the black-eyed recipe.
I've got my black-eyed peas soaking already. I'm serving it with acorn-squash polenta, and probably some okra. Do you know anything about the nutrients in okra? I'll have to go check it out on the web. I think it is one of the few veggies I haven't "googled" yet. lol!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Alicia!
This soup sounds very refreshing.
ReplyDeleteAisling,
ReplyDeleteAll I know about okra is that it is said to be good for reducing cholesterol. I will see what else I find and let you know in a separate comment on this post in a little while.
Rose,
Thanks! I made this to remind us of dinner last night, and to get avocado into my resistant hubby.
I hope you are both having a great start to the New Year,
Alicia
Aisling,
ReplyDeleteSee this link:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2498/2
Apparently okra is high in fiber and a good source of vitamin K. I use the nutritiondata site a lot for quick nutrition research.
Your acorn squash polenta sounds perfect on a cold night. I make a butternut squash polenta that you just reminded me of, thanks!
Alicia
Aw, man, I hope my Arkansas-bred husband doesn't see this! I didn't know about black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. We just had those for Thanksgiving. Well, Alicia, your's was the first blog I checked out today because I just knew you'd have something new and interesting. Guacamole soup, and raw at that, delicious! Or delicioso? Did I spell that right? Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteAlicia, Thank you for that link. I looked it up too. Apparently it provides 43% of the RDA for Manganese as well, which seems good. I just finished taking a Food and Nutrition Biology course last semester that was fascinating (I'm "back in school" to be a teacher and this fulfilled a "science with a lab" requirement, and a personal interest!)
ReplyDeleteI have made polenta with butternut squash also, but I have frozen roasted acorn squash from last summer's garden, so this is a good opportunity to use it! I can't wait to read more about your New Year's meal. :)
Back again. I noticed that your source lists the manganese as 12% of the DV, and the source I found on the web said 43%. I wonder why the discepancy. Hmm...
ReplyDeletethat sounds like a fun night! and that soup looks tasty, and healthy. Happy New year!
ReplyDeleteDani
Blessedmama,
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice compliment that you checked my blog first. :) That made me smile.
You were so close on the spelling. It is actually delizioso. At least that is how I spell it, so hopefully I am right. ;)
Aisling,
How fun that course must have been. I would have been in heaven.
Do you stir the squash into the polenta, or serve it on top? Just curious.
I hope you are both having a great holiday with your respective families,
Alicia
Aisling,
ReplyDeleteI am going to check a second source and see what it has to say about manganese. Are the serving sizes the same?
Dani,
Thanks. It was a fabulous evening. The mojito spheres made using a sodium alginate solution were one of my favorites.
Happy New Year,
Alicia
I'm assuming you went to MiniBar. Glad to hear they can do well by vegans. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteShenandoah,
ReplyDeleteWe were at the MiniBar. They will accomodate vegetarian diners but can't do vegan which is why I didn't mention the restaurant by name in the post. As I said, we had a rough year and needed a celebratory event to ring in the New Year in a very happy and joyous way.
Alicia
Were you really able to find a 28 course vegan meal?! Or was it not all vegan? Sounds like fun either way :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Courtney
Alicia, I stirred the roasted squash into my polenta after I had stirred in the cornmeal and had the basic consistency I wanted. I chilled my polenta in a bread loaf pan and then sliced it and just broiled it lightly before serving, so that each slice had a crisp top, but a soft interior.
ReplyDeleteI used this source for the okra info: http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/okra.html
If I set them both to 100g of okra, your source says 15% DV and this says 43% RDA. Not a big deal, but if I were really worried about getting enough manganese, it would be nice to know which is true. :)
Hope your meal went well! Ours took almost 3 hours to prepare (including some sitting around and waiting time while beans soaked and cooked) and about 10 to eat. lol! It was yummy though! Now, for that pile of dishes!
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteNot all vegan, but amazing none the less. It was our favorite restaurant before we went vegan. We would go there when we had a big event to celebrate. I am fascinated by molecular gastronomy so you say sodium alginate and I am there.
Happy New Year to you too!
Alicia
Aisling,
ReplyDeleteIt seems there is a big difference in manganese depending on whether the okra is raw or cooked. If you see something different please let me know, I would be curious to hear.
Our dinner cooked for hours too and was gone in 30 minutes. That is always so depressing.
I stir the squash in too, but then serve the polenta soft. Thanks for the idea of serving it firm.
Alicia
Oh, this soup looks and sounds so good. I have a lot of avocados in my fridge, can't wait to give it a try, thanks for such a wonderful recipe, Alicia:)
ReplyDeleteOraphan,
ReplyDeleteThanks, I hope you like it as much as we did!
Alicia