Banana Guacamole, Smoked Paprika Cod, Granny Smith Ginger Juice

Sorry for the outage around here lately.  I've just moved for the second time in six months, but this is going to be home for the unforeseeable future.

The good news is that my new home has a kickass kitchen.  Couple that with my new digital camera and my prospects of returning to the quality food shots of yesteryear appear promising.  I have tons of foods shots in the can for upcoming posts, so I'll try to make up for my absence with a barrage of dishes for you.

Last week, I literally had the worst guacamole of my life at Les Enfants Terribles (along with many other horrendous dishes...insert barfing noise here).  It was a banana guacamole, which I found very intriguing. However, after arriving at the table, the texture reminded us of...hmmmm...how do I put this? If I had a little baby, fed this baby avocado and banana, and said baby promptly barfed it up all over me...well, then you'd have a perfect resemblance of the texture and taste of the banana guacamole at Les Enfantes.  (I just made a reference to baby puke on a food site...nice!).

I set out to make a better version of the banana guacamole.  I stuck to the basics of the traditional guacamole, featuring red onion, cilantro and lime juice (I don't use tomatoes in guac..dunno why).  But I added some finely chopped ripe banana at the end, adding another element of chunky contrast and a hint of sweetness.  I've been enjoying banana guacamole as a condiment for fish. The above photo (from my new kitchen) is smoked paprika seared cod in an apple ginger juice.

You remember my juicing hyjinx from last year.  I'm obsessed with juicing as a simple, explosive broth for fish dishes.  I juiced an entire granny smith apple along with a large nugget of ginger.   The juice doesn't need to be cooked or reduced - it's perfectly peppery, tart, fresh and bursting with flavors on it's own.  A little salt and you're good to go.

The moral of this post? Avoid the baby boot at Les Enfants Terribles.  Make banana guacamole. Juice everything in your fridge.  Send me expensive wine as a thank you.