The other day I heard a phrase that seemed funny as well as true: "I want a barbecue of those that you start to be happy before the embers are made." We miss these things just like going out to a disco, that's how it is. But now the festivities, at least in Madrid, have moved to restaurants and going out is synonymous with going for a snack or eating something, or having a few drinks at locals with a DJ, like the day I tried grilled truffled avocado with salsa ponzu de Salvaje, in Madrid. It seemed like a full-fledged goal, just like his lamb, and I thought: I have to replicate this. With my variants and stuff, but somehow putting together avocado-ponzu-truffle (there is no reason Dabiz Muñoz would make a sauce with that base).
First of all, it should be said that grilled avocado, like everything in life, has to be made to everyone's taste: it can be done without removing the peel or roasting it already peeled with direct heat contact (my favorite way).
It is very important that the avocado is not overripe, it has to be tender but tight.
As easy as cutting the avocado in two, removing the bone, peeling it and heat.
The accompaniments can be diverse, but the citrus touch of the ponzu sauce combines perfectly with the fat of the pesto and that of the avocado itself.
But what is ponzu?
Let's take a little trip to Japan to find out.
It could be said that more than a sauce, it is like a vinaigrette, since its main ingredients, in addition to soybeans, are vinegar and citrus juice.
In Japan its preparation is almost a ritual in which it takes up to a week to prepare it, with very typical products: soybeans, rice vinegar, yuzu -a citrus similar to lemon-, sake, mirin -Japanese sweet wine- and a dashi ( broth made from flakes of dry bonito -katsuobushi- and kombu seaweed). Don't you have mirin on hand? Any sweet Spanish white wine is worth, a Jerez for example;
Or sake? Well, a Verdejo or a Chinese wine;
rice vinegar?
Well, normal apple cider vinegar;
Yuzu?
Lime, lemon or orange juice.
This is the magic of cooking, go to your nearest supermarket and combine ingredients as you please.
This sauce with acid points is the perfect counterpoint to defat, for example, a Genovese pesto, which will travel to Lima introducing its star ingredient: coriander or coriander.
Difficulty:
Simpler than the dashboard of a Seat Panda.
Ingredients
For the cilantro pesto
50 g coriander
1 pinch of sugar
1 pinch of salt
100g grated Parmesan
40 g pine nuts
1 clove of garlic without germ
110 ml of extra virgin olive oil
For the ponzu sauce
150 ml of soy sauce
50 ml mirin
50 ml of sake
50 ml of rice vinegar
1 teaspoon of yuzu juice, or orange and lemon mixture
What's more
2 avocados
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Some black truffle or a good truffle pesto (optional)
Preparation
Bring the sake and mirin to a boil until the alcohol evaporates;
cool and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
While the ponzu is resting, make the pesto. Ideally, the pine nuts should be raw so they can be toasted in a pan over low heat and without oil. On the other hand, you have to separate the stems from the coriander leaves - reserve, since they are very aromatic and are valid for countless recipes - and blanch them for two seconds (dip and remove) in water with a pinch of salt and sugar. Go to ice water with another pinch of salt and sugar (this is done to fix the chlorophyll to the coriander and thus keep it greener). Once this is done, simply put the blanched leaves with the pine nuts, half the oil, the garlic clove and the salt in a mortar. Crush until you get a paste with a homogeneous texture, and finish with the rest of the oil.
Cook the avocado on the grill or in a skillet over high heat inside for two or three minutes until golden brown, turning it at the end of cooking so that it is lightly on the side of the skin.
Assemble the avocados with the coriander pesto and serve with the ponzu sauce.
If you like, at the end and in front of the diner, add a little grated truffle.
If you make this recipe, share the result on your social networks with the hashtag #RecetasComidista. And if it goes wrong, complain to the Chef's Ombudsman by sending an email to defensoracomidista@gmail.com