RCP: Avocado creme brulee

[Jenise]

I was searching just now for something else when I stumbled upon this recipe for avocado creme brulee. I'm not at all a fan of custards, but I am an avowed avocado addict (I show up at Costco about once every two weeks for two bags, which is ten large avocados). I had to look. This is quite interesting! No eggs, for one.


Avocado Creme Brulee

1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 medium firm-ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks of between 8 to 10 ounces flesh
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
About 1/2 cup sugar for topping
Propane blow torch
4 crème brûlée ramekins

Place the condensed milk and avocados into a food processor and process until the mixture is velvety smooth, which takes about one to two minutes.

Add the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time and pulse for a few more seconds after each addition. At this point, taste the avocado cream to check if the lemon juice is giving the right balance.

Use 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice to start, add more if necessary.

Using a rubber spatula, scrape the mixture into four ramekins, making sure it's nice and flat inside the ramekin. Chill for four hours.

Right before serving, spread a thin layer of sugar evenly over the top of each custard.

Ignite the torch to medium. Melt the sugar by moving the flame back and forth across the custard while maintaining a distance of two inches between the flame and the surface.

The sugar will melt, bubble and then turn into a golden caramel. In less than a minute, it will harden to a delicious crust. Allow to cool for three to five minutes before serving. Do not brûlée the dessert more than 20 minutes in advance of serving.

Makes four servings

Interesting indeed. I love custards and I love avocados. Would like to try this. Never thought of it.

Reminds me a bit of an avocado ice cream I made a few years back.

[Jenise]

My husband just got up, and I just asked him what he thought of the idea of a 'avocado creme brulee'. Didn't get a taker. After making a funny face he said, "It sounds like a vegetarian 'Trick Me'."

I saw a very trendy chef -- I think he was on Ming Tsai's TV show. He was using avocado in just that way, to give a creamy texture and mouth-feel to desserts, without the cream. And Ming Tsai was surprised when he tasted it, said there was no way he would have guessed it was avocado based. The flavor was covered up by vanilla, whatever. Jenise, I think the "trick me" might be worth a try...

Wish I could think of the name of that chef. Young, long hair, Malaysian influence. I could probably look it up. At any rate it's an idea that's in the air. Part of our lunch today will be a cold soup I made out of fresh peas and asparagus stems (the part that was too fibrous to eat). Everything pureed with broth and sour cream and then pushed through a strainer. It has a texture like milk, we drink it from a glass, and I said -- why didn't I think of putting in an avocado??

EDIT well THAT was easy. Susur Lee was the young chef and his dessert was a chocolate mousse made with avocado

http://ming.com/foodandwine/recipes/sim ... mousse.htm

SECOND EDIT Louise brought up some sorrel leaves from the back yard, and we discussed the fact that we had one perfect Haas avocado. So I revamped the soup, put in the avocado and sorrel and gave it all a spin in the Cuisinart. Wow!! Totally different -- green mousse. We served it in bowls and ate it (cold) with spoons, super delicious, the flavor of the lightly simmered green peas dominated everything, but you could taste the avocado and the asparagus as well. With the avocado, this is a keeper recipe. Without it, I hadn't been so sure. I took a picture, will eventually post it somewhere here.

Thanks for the idea Jenise.

[Jenise]

Susur Lee--what an inspired and sexy chef he is. Wish he'd do a TV show, as I'm sure I could watch him all day.

Your soup sounds fab. One of my guests tonight is bringing a cold avocado soup. I made one myself once that I liked an awful lot, but that was ten years ago and it's weird that I never made it again. Certainly wasn't because I didn't like it. Maybe it's because I tend to eat all the avocados first--avocado toast or avocado eaten out of the shell with a spoon is my standby breakfast of choice.

Huh. I thought I was being original when I did this for a class a few years ago. Just goes to show you that you can find anything on the internet. I simply pureed some avocado into a creme brulee custard and, voila! I also had the pleasure of sharing the result with Roland Mesnier. He really liked it and gave me the suggestion of putting some candied lemon peel in the mix.

rwj

The life of an avocado is short in our house. Cut em in half, pour a dollop of Italian dressing in and spoon them out. Yum.

Don't think I'd want a sweetened one though.

[Jenise]

The life of an avocado is short in our house. Cut em in half, pour a dollop of Italian dressing in and spoon them out. Yum.

Don't think I'd want a sweetened one though.

Similar thing at our house. It's not like I ever sit there with an avocado on the verge of rotting, wondering what to do with it.

I got the idea from a friend of my from Guinea, Africa. He will mash and avocado with sugar and spread it on bread. Says he grew up with the stuff.

rwj

[Jenise]

Cowboy, I wonder if the watery Florida style of avocado (that I despise, having grown up on rich California avocados) lend themselves to sweetening that way--they start out tasting sweeter, to my palate that is.

Could be. I'll have to try it sometime. Although it may call for a little more tinkering with the cream in the custard due to the extra moisture. What I liked about the California style is that I just blended a couple into a regular custard recipe and it worked great.

rwj