Monday, April 6, 2009

Crema de Guacamole with Crunchy Topopos

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to entertain some friends one more time before they leave Austin to embark on new adventures. My goal for this dinner party was to piece together a menu that hinted at local flavors and highlighted local ingredients. Also, I wanted to exploit our friends’ willingness to act as tasting guinea pigs once more. I kid, but they have been quite kind and patient about tasting my experiments over the years. Not every item on the menu was a first-time test. The dinner began with Feisty Jamaican Splash cocktails and Tuna Tostadas. Up next, I served a chilled crema de guacamole soup from Super Natural Cooking. SNC is the beautifully designed book by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. The book contains a wealth of information about many whole and natural ingredients and how to use them in various ways. It’s organized by concept such as Know Your Superfoods and Explore a Wide Range of Grains. This recipe is from the Cook by Color chapter. It’s described as a perfect make-ahead soup, and that made it ideal for our dinner party.

There are two main parts to the soup, and the first involves cooking chopped tomatillos, serrano chiles, white onion, and garlic in vegetable stock. Once the tomatillos became tender, the mixture was blended until smooth and passed through a strainer. When cool, lime juice was added, and this soup base was chilled for a couple of hours. The second part of the soup was avocado blended with cilantro, salt, and lime juice. The two parts were then blended together. Topopos were made by cutting thin strips of corn tortillas and frying them for a few minutes per side. As they drained on paper towels, they were seasoned with salt and lime juice. To serve, I spooned the soup into espresso cups. The garnishes included the topopos, a little swirl of crema or thinned sour cream, and a tiny dollop of fresh tomato salsa.

The soup was thick, smooth, and deliciously fresh tasting. The tomatillos and lime juice acted together to brighten the flavor. The serranos gave it just enough of a kick, and the garnishes brought together all the elements I so love in Mexican cuisine. I wondered if the nice green color would dull as the soup chilled, but it did not. It was as pretty when it was served as it was a few hours before when it was blended. It was a great way to start this meal, and I’m looking forward to trying many more things from this book.



19 comments:

  1. The color alone makes me want to eat this! Plus the fact that it has a bit of spiciness earns it points in my book. You said you were aiming for local ingredients when possible in this menu -- what's available right now in Austin, out of curiosity? A beautiful menu -- and I'm looking forward to trying the tuna tostadas soon.

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  2. Becky: Last weekend at the Farmers' Market, I found green garlic, green onions, carrots, baby beets with greens, strawberries (didn't use those in this meal), eggs, and blue oyster mushrooms. From the grocery store, I used local shitakes and a local viognier wine.
    The tostadas have become a recurring favorite of ours!

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  3. Wow Lisa , your friends are lucky . I love avocado,looks fresh and delicious

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  4. I have avoided that cookbook because it seems so, well, earnest. But this recipe looks divine. Some of my favorite flavors together in one bowl. I'll have to look at it again.

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  5. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING that I love more in the entire world than guacamole! That soup looks amazing!

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  6. lisa. this sounds absolutely heavenly! i'm a bonafide lover of guacamole and all things avocado, and the very thought of this excites me--thanks for sharing!

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  7. I love avocado but have never had it in a soup form. This is tremendous - creamy and refreshing at once. I love the topopos and crema garnishes, and the whole presentation is lovely.

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  8. What a great summer starter. Love the vivid green color, too. It makes me wish that the warm temperatures we're having this week will stick around.

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  9. That looks so beautiful! Love the colors!

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  10. Yum, this looks and sounds great - minus the cilantro of course. Yuck!

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  11. That rich avocado soup sounds and looks absolutely decadent. What a palate-inspiring soup, that I will need to try someday!

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  12. anything with avocado makes me insanely happy. this looks gorgeous!

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  13. How refreshing and scrumptious! Your whole meal sounds fantastic!

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  14. What a luscious idea!! We have lots of avocados all the time! Great to know the color stayed green. this can get a bit tricky? Love the photos too. thanks, s

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  15. Fantastic! This looks really delicious!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  16. goodness. I don't like avocadoes, but after seeing that gorgeous picture...I think it's time to put an end to that.

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  17. Amazing color! Looks so hearty and filling. I didn't have much feeling for avocado until I saw this picture. Now I know what to do with them.

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  18. oh, i had the first chilled soup that i actually LIKED last weekend. was a spicy, creamy pumpkin soup. this, however, involves perhaps my favorite ingredient: AVOCADO! thanks, adding this to the veggie (could even go vegan) list.

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