Chilled Avocado Shooters #SoupSaturdaySwappers

Do you consider Avocado a vegetable or a fruit?  You may be surprised to know that, not only is it a fruit, it is actually a single seeded berry.  This I learned while reading an article all about Avocados by the Huffington Post. They also said that it was one of the few high protein fruits.  That got me thinking so, of course, I googled to see which other fruits are high in protein.

It turns out, according to this article at Healthaliciousness.com, that avocados contain 4 grams of protein per fruit.  This is beat out only by pomegranate at 4.7 grams per fruit and passion fruit at 5.2 grams. Who knew?  Now we do.

I found this all out on Thursday evening, by the way.  I got home from choir and went onto my scheduled blog posts, noting that my Fish Friday Foodies post was all set to go.  I checked my Crazy Ingredient Challenge post and made sure the link up was included and scheduled it to go out first thing this morning.  Then I went to my Soup Saturday Swappers post, Pot Roast Stew, and went to get the code for the linkup (which, by the way, I am in charge of) and it wasn't there.  Hmmmm.....I went to my inlinkz page and saw that I had indeed made the code and went back to the month's theme of English Stews.  Nope, it still wasn't there.

That was when I noticed that English Stew was June's theme and, as you know (and I should know) this is only May.  That led me to rush to the refrigerator in a panic where I found a few shriveled strawberries, a handful of raspberries growing fuzz, 1 clementine, a kiwi, an apple, an orange and an avocado.

At least my refrigerator got cleaned out and my hens were thrilled with their extra treats of strawberries and raspberries.  Their favorite fruit is watermelon.  They can barely wait for watermelon season!

Back to the couch to find out if I remembered correctly reading that avocado was actually a fruit or if it was just wishful thinking and rejoicing because I could work on a soup Friday morning without having to run to the store.  I shut off my computer and tuned in to the Master Chef Junior finale.  I was rooting for Justise.  And she choked.....Calamity......worse Calamity than my Calamity that I shared on Thursday morning.  I watched her grab her ramekin, hot from the oven, with her bare hand and I wanted to grab that strong, brave, little darling and kiss her booboo away.  Luckily, it wasn't an elimination round.....that came next.

Spoiler alert....if you are watching and haven't seen the finale yet....stop reading now and skip to the next bolded section.

The elimination round found Justise cooking goat.  She was pretty happy with the assignment as she knew she needed to impress and making a great dish with a difficult ingredient would ensure her making the final two.  And......she nailed it!!! Coming in first with her Goat Curry made in an hour using a pressure cooker.  Jasmine, the winner of the first challenge, took the other spot in the finale.

Do you watch Master Chef Junior?  These are the most impressive kids ever!!  Sometimes, I feel like it is way too much stress to put on a young child but I guess it is not much different than the stress of any other competition.

These kids are amazingly talented and very driven but they are also very kind and helpful to each other.  There is no backbiting, no disrespect, no criticism.  I wish the adults who participate in cooking competitions would take some lessons from these kids.  One of the reasons that I love our food blogging community is that you find many of the qualities that these kids have, shared among us.

What a competition!! I would not want to put my skills up against either of these two young ladies. Nose to nose after the appetizer course, we moved onto the main course, Jerk Lobster Tail for Jasmine and Cider Braised Pork Belly for Justise.  This course went to Jasmine.....Justise needed to let her pork belly cook just a bit longer.  As I watched this final show, it occurred to me that the reason I love Justise so much is that she reminds me, very much, of my Lili.  My Lili is one of the kindest, determined,  most respectful and empathetic young women I know and Justise seems to have all those same qualities.

Jasmine nailed dessert. I was on pins and needles as Justise presented her panna cotta.  The judges loved Justise's dessert.  As they went off to deliberate, I was worried that Justise's main course would lose this competition for her.  The guest judges had wonderful things to say about her so that gave me a little hope.  Alas, she lost but I am very happy for Jasmine who also was a very wonderful and humble competitor and deserved this victory.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

The following morning I found this recipe for Chilled Avocado Soup Shots from Bon Appetit.  I thought that these would make a great appetizer or for the dinner I was serving our friends, John and Kirsten, that evening AND I had everything I need to make it work with some minor adaptations.

I used a small avocado and reduced the other ingredients to make 4 servings instead of 8.  I added some cilantro and a dash of hot sauce to the mixture and garnished with cilantro leaves instead of breadcrumbs.

You will find links to the other Fruit Soup recipes right below mine.  Enjoy!!

Chilled Avocado Shooters

Adapted from Bon Appetit

1 medium avocado

1 c. chicken stock

2 T. heavy cream

small handful cilantro leaves, reserve a bit for garnish

juice of 1/2 a lime

Sea Salt to taste

dash of hot sauce

Place the avocado, chicken stock, cream, cilantro and lime juice in a blender and puree until smooth, scraping sides as necessary.  Taste and season with salt and hot sauce.  Add more chicken stock, if needed, for desired consistency.   Chill for at least 2 hrs and up to 4 hrs before pouring into shot glasses and garnishing with cilantro leaves to serve.  Print Recipe

More Fruit Soups

An InLinkz Link-up