Avocado Alfredo

This will look questionable. It sounds questionable. Consider that your forewarning, but please don’t let it keep you from at least considering this dish. It’s good. It’s good for you. Again, don’t let that stop you.

I grew up around avocados and absolutely despised eating them. My dad would make an avocado-laden sandwich or piece of toast and you couldn’t get me within 10 feet of it. At this point, the avocado trees have replanted themselves all over the yard I grew up playing in. With fruit in such abundance they can’t possibly all be picked when ripe, eventually they fall off, fall into the earth, and begin sprouting… It’s an avocado grove. And I miss it.

Now that I live an ocean away and have to spend over a dollar on one measly avocado at the grocery store, which often doesn’t taste as creamy and rich as I remember, I can’t get enough of the little green beauties.

I saw a recipe floating around the blogger networks a few months back and thought it sounded awfully curious… potentially disgusting, potentially amazing. I like those sorts of recipes. It was essentially a fettucini “alfredo” with an avocado-based sauce. I thought it couldn’t possibly be good without the cream, without the fresh parmesan cheese, without the butter. I love fettucini alfredo. But this recipe boasted creaminess, deliciousness, all completely vegan. Shut up—there’s no way—my brain said.

Due to the potential failure, this week seemed like a perfect time to experiment with this mysterious avocado “alfredo” sauce. I was happily surprised at the richness of the following recipe. It’s loosely based on the original recipe I saw, with extra green goodness. The food processor or blender does the majority of your work and the result is amazing. I didn’t even miss the cheese… and I’ll tell you again, I love cheese.

Avocado Alfredo

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 oz baby spinach
1 medium avocado, pitted and peeled
½ a lemon
4 cloves garlic
½ oz chives
½ tsp salt
½ oz fresh basil
2 tbsp. olive (or avocado) oil
6 oz. linguine, spaghetti, or fettucini
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
zest from 1 lemon

Directions:

Cook the pasta according to the directions it comes with.

While the pasta is cooking, combine the spinach, avocado, lemon, garlic, chives, salt, basil, and oil in your food processor or high-powered blender. Blend until you have a creamy, smooth sauce.

Drain the pasta and return it to your pot. Pour the sauce in and mix well, until all the ingredients are combined. Stir in the grated lemon zest and ground black pepper.

Serve hot!