THE DISH
Avocado tacos, guacamole, and avocado fries

THE INSPIRATION
When Laura asked for guest posts for Eating The Beats, I was all in — until I realized that I am much better at making puns than I am at cooking. So I went to my talented friend David Anthony and asked for inspiration. He responded with 23 recipe ideas playing with band names, album titles and song titles, some of which were so funny that our lack of cooking skills or experience could not stop them. The clear frontrunner was We Jam Avocado, avocado-based recipes inspired by The Minutemen documentary We Jam Econo. And since a joke doesn’t start to get good until it reaches the ground, we decided to do a trio (GET IT?! LIKE THE BAND!) of avocado recipes with a California twist (‘CAUSE THAT’S WHERE THEY’RE FROM). A twist that, to us, means adding limes to everything, and to David means twists of lime and another pun. We stumbled through most of these recipes, by adding things we liked — Bacon! Cheese! Frying! — as we went, but the tacos especially are open to experimentation. We also included very few procedural photographs, because no one needs to know about our knife skills.

THE RECIPES

Guacamole
Makes one bowl of guacamole, enough for four people.

Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 small sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped (to taste)
1/2 one lime
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Queso fresco for garnish

Directions:

• Halve the avocados, running a knife around the avocado, feeling for the pit. Scoop the meat out of each half.

• Combine avocado, salt, onions and sun-dried tomatoes in a mixing bowl, using a potato masher or fork.

• Squeeze lime juice into the mixture, to taste.

• Garnish with crumbled queso fresco.

Tacos
Makes three tacos.

Ingredients:
6 corn tortillas
1 1/2 avocados
1 1/2 limes
Cayenne, black pepper and salt to taste
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1 can refried beans
2 medium-cut slices of bacon
Crumbled queso fresco to taste

Directions:

• Halve avocados, scoop out the meat and slice into nine medium-thick wedges.

• Juice the limes into a bowl, then add cayenne, black pepper and salt to taste (a couple healthy shakes of each). Add the avocado slices and let marinate for five minutes.

• Chop the tomato and onion, dice the cilantro and jalapeno and toss together in a bowl for the pico de gallo.

• Empty the refried beans into a saucepan, add a little water and heat.

• Fry the bacon up in a pan, dry and crumble.

• Steam the tortillas in the microwave for 20 seconds or blister on the stove burner.

• For each taco, stack two tortillas, smear with refried beans, add avocado, bacon, pico de gallo and queso fresco.

Avocado fries
Makes a dozen or so avocado fries, depending on thickness.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 avocados
1 egg
1/4 cup half and half or other milk substitute
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 cups of vegetable or other frying oil, enough to coat a pan ½ inch thick

Directions
Halve and the avocados and slice roughly 1/4-inch thick, thicker for more avocado flavor and thinner for more crunch.

• Beat egg and half and half together in a shallow bowl, for egg wash.

• Combine flour, cumin, cayenne and salt to taste in a shallow dish for breading.

• Drop each avocado slice into the egg bath, coat, transfer to flour and coat, and repeat (so they’ll each be dipped and coated twice).

• Slide avocado into frying oil and fry for about 30 seconds on each side, or until golden brown.

• Transfer to a paper towel and let cool.