Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in last year’s BBC TV’s Masterchef  competition. Every Saturday Yemi will be writing on the Stray Ferret about her love of the district’s food  and sharing cooking tips– please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.  

 

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My mum introduced me to avocado over four decades ago and I wondered what she loved about a tasteless, mushy mess that discoloured quickly, or so I thought.

She loved telling us the story of how she introduced avocado to her village. As a young woman, she lived with a family in Lagos which was then Nigeria's capital city, and they had access to imported fruits.

She discovered avocado and decided she wanted to grow them, so she took some seeds back to her parents who planted them. Other farmers took advantage of the seeds with many deciding to grow them.

Avocado is also known as butter or alligator pear and they grow well in warm climates; they are packed full of monounsaturated fatty acids and rich in many vitamins, minerals and fibre. It’s a food to add to your arsenal for weight loss.

My mum simple ate the avocado with a sprinkle of salt; it was so uninspiring that I never bothered with it after the first time I tried it.

Fast forward a few decades; the humble Avocado had become the new kid on the ‘superfood’ block. Avocado toast, the toast of all sandwiches, was pricey and the environmentalists were calculating the distance an avocado travelled and the impact on global warming.

It became the bourgeois thing to eat with Oprah famously having her own avocado farm. Every diet needs to include avocado a few times a week; I had to get on board somehow and give avocado another try so I began to look for ways to enjoy them.

It took a few attempts of guacamole until I got to like it and now, I am at a stage where I can say I enjoy it especially for brunch where I pair it with toasted sourdough, poached eggs and smoked salmon, grilled kippers, pan-fried salmon or prawns.



Avocado, flat mushrooms, sautéed kale and eggs 

I enjoy avocado paired with a simple but well flavoured dressing of ratio 1:1 of lemon juice to olive oil, a pinch of gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes) for aesthetics and flavour, freshly cracked black pepper and smoked sea salt. Mix well and drizzle over sliced avocado.

I also pair my avocado with rib eye steak, flatbread, and salads. I use crushed and seasoned avocado as a topping for sweetcorn fritters finished with sweetcorn and smoky bacon-grilled pepper salsa.



Avocado, poached eggs, smoked salmon and samphire 

Avocado mousse is perfect as a light and aerated toping for more elegant dinner. It can provide an air of mystery as diners wonder what is under the light and delicate green cloud. Anything from scallops, prawns and grilled fish to crispy pancetta and chorizo crumps would be perfect underneath the cloud.

It is also great for making vegan or vegetarian desserts.

I am not a huge fan of bananas as I find the flavour too overpowering especially when it is very ripe so banana cakes or breads are a no-no for me. I eat the odd banana when it still has a little bite to it. This also means that banana based smoothies are off the menu so I replace the banana with avocado to get a rich and thick smoothie.

The avocado is undetectable in the smoothie and this was my starting point of introducing them to my diet.

Here’s my recipe for Pineapple Smoothie:

Add 500g of pineapples to a blender

Add 1 medium avocado to the blender

Add a whole lemon (washed) and half the juice of a lime

Add a few fresh mint leaves and a thumb size of fresh ginger

Top with some water (for a less sweet version), or apple or pineapple juice

Blend together until smooth; taste and adjust the sweetness and texture; you can also add some cucumber slices

Serve poured over some ice for a refreshing smoothie.

I hope you give avocado a go and find ways to include them in your diet.

This weekend, I am doing three chef demos at Yorkshire Dales Food Festival and I am at Yolk Farm and Minskip Farm shop on Saturday, July 29. Drop by and come say hi if you’re in the area.

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• Yemi’s Food Stories: Sustainable takeaways from the Great Yorkshire Show


• Yemi’s Food Stories: Making the most of honey

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