When you think of really tasty food for Winter, you know, the kind that warms you from your boots to your well dry shampooed hair line, you don’t reeeally think of avocados do you?
Avocados to me were always that weird looking thing that your baby resembled at around 4 months and that you just totally wouldn’t eat unless it was made into guacamole with hot chilli Doritos as your “health” point for the dips and chips experience. Or if you were a health nut – they were always there with their avo-love. Who else eats them?
Turns out, everyone. Including me! I don’t know what happened but a few months ago I was presented with avocado on toast on every corner of the @tobyandrooeats Instagram page. For real. It was… weird. Every one was eating this and it looked… good. Really good. So I forced myself to sit down and try some. Like most things, excluding puberty (damn you big bone structure and early growth spurts!) I was late to the party but I got their eventually.
Since then I’ve been sliding avocados into our food like a 20-something chancer slides into DMs. A small sliver on toast for the kids, a few chunks in their tacos, puréed in their pasta, but what about a winter warmer, a summer dish that can come to the winter party? Well taking inspiration from the delicious box that the lovely World Avocado Organisation (WAO) sent me a few weeks ago, I’ve decided to share with you my favourite avocado seasonal transition soup, which I have tweaked for my own delights. It ticks the boxes for my kids because it’s green, creamy and smooth so no lumps or bits (they have the same drama with orange juice) and it ticks the boxes for me because, in case you didn’t know, avocado is the whole frickkin avengers team in one fruit/veg/no one knows which. (It’s fruit – it’s actually *technically* a berry).
Lastly, I’m not doing this for any sponsorship (although the box the WAO sent me included some avocado pjs, a book of avocado recipes and avo-accessories with 4 avocados to make me drool -so at this point I’m pretty much prepared to give them one of my offspring as everyone knows food and Pjs are the way to my SOUL.) All joking apart, it’s really important to me that you guys know when this is and isn’t an ad so I can be above board with things, but this isn’t an ad.
So, shall we avo at it? (Adam says I have to apologise for that one. I’m sorry).
Avocado and Prawn Soup
- 4 avocados, skinned and de-stoned
- 1 bag of Aldi Thai sweet chilli prawns (these are my faves and this is totally my addition to the recipe, but you could just use 200g of prawns!)
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic (or, if you too subscribe to I-have-no-time-for-that-ville then you can use 2 tsp lazy garlic.)
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1lt chicken stock
- 200g double cream
- Salt and pepper
- Handful of chopped coriander (another addition of mine.)
1.) Place some oil in a pan and heat the onions and garlic. Fry for approximately 5mins until the onions are turning translucent and then add the flour.
2.) Pour in the stock, stirring to avoid lumps. You’re looking for a smooth criminal here.
3.) Add the bag of prawns (from frozen is fine as they will cook into the soup).
4.) Add the avocado. Simmer together for 8 mins. Check all the prawns are fully cooked.
5.) Add the cream and seasoning. If you’re adding the coriander like me then do that now too!
6.) Add to a blender and blend that bad boy.
In the original recipe they add extra avocado cubes and prawns to the dish but I didn’t. The other thing I’m going to try adding to this is perhaps building on the Thai twist and adding coconut cream instead of cream, perhaps lemongrass and some rice noodles.
For me food is something to play with, experiment with and see if you can marry flavours you know you love. I built on the original recipe for this soup, which can be served hot or cold, to create something I really loved, so I want to keep doing that.
What are my other suggestions for the healthiest fruit in the world?
- Try pureeing avocado for a baby for first tastes.
- Try pureeing and adding to pasta with some cheese and basil.
- Add to toast for a creamy topping.
- Use to replace mayo in the BLT (no really, do it.)
- Add to tacos.
So there you go! If you love avocados then this book is a must as it is filled with beyond tasty meals. All the nom.
H x
