Caramelized Onion Chipotle Chévre Guacamole- A Dip and Sip Challenge

As I mentioned in my blog post about my Piedra Azul cocktail- La Última Palabra– A Bolder Table was invited to participate in a Dip and Sip Challenge featuring Piedra Azul Tequila and Avocados in honor of National Guacamole Day, which is September 16. Sean and I had plans to invite friends and have a little soirée in our loft, but then Boulder suffered through a 100 year flood, making roads impassable.  In fact, we were asked to stay put so only emergency vehicles were on the road, and at the time of this posting, we’re still under a flash flood warning. So, needless to say, there was no fiesta with the $25 gift card we received to Whole Foods nor with the bottle of Piedra Azul Tequila. It was just the two of us, tequila, and avocados.

Before the flood of the century, I had plans to go to the Boulder Farmers’ Market for all of the ingredients I couldn’t purchase at Whole Foods. That, unfortunately, didn’t happen because the market was canceled due to flooding. Most of the farms, in fact, were totally wiped out, so I’m not even sure we’ll have a market for the rest of the season. But, disaster aside- plans changed. When life gives you lemons, make lemon-aide. When Piedra Azul gives you avocados and tequila, make guacamole and libations. It’s simple, sometimes.

When there was a break in the rain we rode our Linus bikes (couldn’t resist the plug) to Whole Foods to grab some Hass avocados, Haystack Mountain Boulder Chévre, and a few other ingredients to make an avocado dip to pair with my tequila tail and some veggie fajitas that the chef planned for dinner after working a ten hour shift at OAK.

The Dip and Sip Challenge is straightforward: Create a unique avocado dip and tequila libation. We received a $25 gift card to Whole Foods, a bottle of Piedra Azul Blanco Tequila, and Gaby Dalkin’s cookbook Absolutely Avocados.

When I lived in Santiago de Chile, I ate avocados every single day. After moving to Boulder and seeing a $2-$3 price tag per avocado, I pretty much made them a food specialty item in my kitchen. So, I was eager to accept the challenge, the gift card, and the cook book since I absolutely LOVE avocados. Disastrous flooding canceled our party, but the bright side is Sean and I had two days of serious avocado indulgence, which is not custom in our home.

Sean made a caramelized onion chipotle chévre guacamole for dipping with chips and spreading on fajitas. The recipe is straightforward:

Caramelize a yellow onion in olive oil. If you’ve never caramelized an onion before, it’s easy. Slice them thinly and add them to a hot pan with olive oil. Turn down the heat and let them slowly turn brown over 30-40 minutes, agitating them occasionally.

The caramelized goodness went into a food processor with a log of locally made Boulder Chévre and a couple chipotle peppers from a can of San Marcos Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce purchased at Whole Foods.

While Sean sliced the avocados, I had a giddy-as-a-school-girl-look on my face. But, we have no photo of that. Just the aguacates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final steps are simple- add the caramelized onion chipotle chévre mixture to mashed avocado, add Meyer lemon, French sea salt, Aleppo Pepper  to taste (recall those ingredients from my cocktail?), and mix well.

We enjoyed the dip with chips, and with veggie fajitas topped with locally made White Girl Salsa and Sean’s Habañero Hot Sauce.  

This was a fun challenge for both of us. We learned some interesting facts about avocados from Gabby’s book, were both challenged to create something new, and had a great dinner for two as a result.

¡Buen Provecho!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers

I am very excited to be eating fresh sweet potatoes from Ollin Farms. Sweet potatoes are quite versatile and I like to make sweet potato patties, sweet potato biscuits, and even sweet potato smoothies.
This time I made a hearty baked vegetarian burger.

Ingredients:
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 can black beans- rinsed, drained, somewhat smashed with your hands
  • 1 cup finely grated yam/sweet potato
  • 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/2 tsp Spanish sweet paprika
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • pinch of sea salt
  • ground black pepper
Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Form patties with your hands and bake them (I lined a baking tray with parchment paper). Start with the oven preheated to 400. After 10 minutes, lower the temp to 375 and let them cook another 5 minutes or so. Flip them and lower the oven to 350. They should be done in another 5-10 minutes, depending on your oven. They’ll be a nice golden brown and won’t fall apart.
I served this on a tortilla with some caramelized onion avocado spread, some caramelized onion, and Tillamook white cheddar cheese.

Enjoy!

Black Beans and Carrots with Guacamole and Tostones

I think I’ll be having meals very similar to this much more frequently. I forgot how much I loved tostones, so now I’m going to be looking for meals that compliment my newly-re-found favorite side dish.

I made up a simple guacamole, which is really probably more of some American avocado salad… but it’s an avocado, 1 clove chopped garlic, juice from 1/2 lime, sea salt, and pepper.
For the black beans, I sauteed 1/2 of a yellow onion in a little peanut oil just to keep it from sticking. When the onion was soft, I added one large carrot, covered the pot, and let that cook for a few minutes. I added a can of rinsed black beans, a nice pinch of cumin, 2 cloves chopped garlic, and let this cook while I made my Tostones.
I expect to have dozens of variations of this dish as the year goes on…

Blue Corn Bean Enchiladas

These are really fun to make and to eat.

Preheat the oven to 375.
For the enchiladas:
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 TB peanut oil
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • red pepper flakes
In one pan, get the beans going. Heat a pan to medium high, add the peanut oil and saute the onion for a few minutes until soft and fragrant. Then add the garlic and after a minutes, add the beans. Keep this moving on the heat and turn it down to medium. Let this heat up and then add the cumin and red pepper flakes. Toss this well and remove from heat.
In another pan, get the sauce going. Pour in the tomatoes, and then add each ingredient, one by one, and mix well. Get this to a boil and then drop it down to low to simmer for 15 minutes or so.
For the sauce:
  • 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
  • 1/2 TB granulated onion
  • 1 TB Black Canyon Chili Powder
  • 1 TB chili powder
  • 1 TB enchilada seasoning (from the ethnic section of Whole Foods)
  • 1/2 TB cumin
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • chopped fresh cilantro
In a fry pan, heat up a little peanut oil. The blue corn tortillas need to be heated a little to allow them to roll without cracking and breaking, so toss them on the hot pan for a few second on each side until them become flexible. Then, put them on a plate, add some filler, and roll them, one-by-one as you heat them up. This works best with a partner in the kitchen to make an assembly line.
Place them all in a Pyrex baking dish, pour the sauce on top, cover with cheese (I used Tillamook medium white cheddar, but use whichever you prefer). Bake for 15 minutes or so until you hear it “talking” to you (sizzling).
Enjoy.

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A Bolder Table is a place where I bookmark my favorite recipes for later along with some occasional musings. It's my personal digital recipe compilation... Let's say it's my cookbook. Thanks for stopping by! -Megan
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