Friday, September 30, 2011

Live Avocado Soup

I entertained five family members last weekend. It was a veritable Dutch invasion! I showed them the Santa Barbara points of interest: the wharf, State Street shopping, the Mission, the Botanical Gardens, etc. Pictured above is the youngest and fairest on her way back to her college via SB train station. The famous Morton Fig tree in background. Once left alone to nurse my cold and weariness, I flipped to Andrew Zimmern's Bizarrre Foods.

His show was taped in Arizona and featured the vegetarian restaurant D'lish in Sedona. I watched them make an avocado based raw soup, which was my inspiration for this recipe. The concept of eating live or raw foods, is that when you cook plant food, you diminish their nutritional value. Now, I like the taste of vegetables. I even find wheat grass juice palatable. Whereas, my husband was afraid of a raw cold soup, and didn't appreciate the subtle flavors. I thought it tasted great. This would be a classy first course when entertaining, served with tortilla chips, of course.

If you can afford to, buy organic kale, parsley, cilantro, avocado, garlic, and lemons. Fill a basin with cold water to soak out any bugs and soil from the greens, spin dry or dry with towels. Get out your food processor and maybe even your juicer too. You'll need to cream your avocado, but if you juiced the greens and garlic, you would have a perfectly smooth soup. I put my handful of greens into a little food processor to chop very finely. When I added these to the avocado, I could feel and almost chew the texture of the vegetables. The tartness of the lemon juice and hot pungent taste of garlic balance the creamy coconut milk and avocado flavors.
Live Avocado Soup
3-5 leaves of kale
a handful each of parsley and cilantro
1 small clove of garlic
1 large ripe avocado
1 small lemon
1/2 cup coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce to taste

Juice or chop very fine your washed greens. Pour into your soup bowl or simply add the garlic, avocado, and the juice of lemon into the processor and puree. Mix this into your green juice. Add enough coconut milk for a good soup consistency. Spice with salt, pepper, and soy product. Garnish with a cilantro leaf. Serve with tortilla chips

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