Skip to main content

Avocado, Squash, & Pinto Salad with Pesto and Cumin-Honey Yogurt #CrazyIngredientChallenge

By

I love the idea behind the Crazy Ingredient Challenge (CIC). In the CIC, we are assigned two ingredients to cook and create. Lori of Lori's Culinary Creations and Kelly of Passion Kneaded
are our fearless leaders. So, here goes...

July's Crazy Ingredient Challenge = avocado and cumin

With avocado and cumin, my first thought was something with guacamole. But that seemed too easy.


So, I ended up making an entree salad with pesto, pinto beans, grilled summer squash, avocado, and a cumin-honey yogurt. I feel so fortunate to have just gotten a bounty of summer goodness from one of my favorite farmers, Jamie of Serendipity Farms. The squash, the herbs, the fresh pea shoots. And I had lemons from my parents' tree.

I know it sounds like a crazy combination of flavors, but this is for Crazy Ingredient Challenge after all. It really was delicious. And my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf ate the cumin-honey yogurt by the spoonful for dessert over fresh blackberries.

Ingredients
  • half a dozen baby summer squash
  • 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 to 2 large organic avocados, peeled and thickly sliced
  • smoked fleur de sel for serving
  • fresh herbs for garnish (I used sprigs of basil flowers)
  • Also needed: grill or grill pan, oil as needed

 Cumin-Honey Yogurt

  • 3/4 C Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 t ground cumin
  • 1/2 T honey

 Pea Shoot Pesto

  • 1 C pea shoots
  • 1/2 C fresh cilantro
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • juice of 1 organic lemon
  • 1/4 to 1/3 C olive oil


Procedure
Place yogurt, honey, and cumin in a small mixing bowl. Stir until well-combined. Refrigerate until needed. 


Place all of the pesto ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until desired texture. Adjust seasoning as needed. Set aside.


Grill the squash until nice char marks develop. Once cool enough to touch, slice them in half lengthwise.


To serve, spoon pesto into the bottom on a serving bowl. Spoon pinto beans over the pesto. Top with grilled squash and avocados.  And add a dollop of cumin-honey yogurt. Garnish with fresh herbs and smoked fleur de sel.



Labels:

Comments

  1. KelsterJuly 20, 2017 at 8:41 PM

    I love your creativity here. I didn't even know baby squash was a thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A Day in the Life on the FarmJuly 21, 2017 at 8:18 AM

    I love the presentation with the whole squash, just grilled and halved.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

By
This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t...
5 comments
Read more

Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies #SundayFunday

By
Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating childhood favorites. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group. Today Stacy is hosting and she's given us the following prompt: "Childhood favorites. Did you have a favorite dish growing up? It could be something your family cooked or a restaurant dish, even a Chef Boyardee canned good or packaged ingredients like Rice-a Roni or mac and cheese. Recreate THAT dish from SCRATCH for this event."  Here's the #SundayFunday childhood favorites line-up... Chili Mac from A Day in the Life on the Farm Ham and Mushroom Breakfast Burritos from Making Miracles Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Homemade Wonder Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories K-Mart Sub Sandwiches from Palatable Pastime Kempakki Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds Meat Chilly Fry...
6 comments
Read more

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

By
If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce...
1 comment
Read more