Grilled Peach-Amaretto Skillet Cakes

So in my last post we started talking about Sarah Huck and Jaimee Young's new book Campfire Cookery. Since I used to be fairly into backpacking, I warned you that these recipes require quite a bit more than what you're probably willing to carry on your back. But for more relaxed outdoor adventures, where a car (or a horse?! Maybe you have a pack horse?) does most of the heavy lifting, the book provides some wonderful recipes that can all be made over the open flame. (Lacking an open flame, you can also use a grill.)

But Huck and Young don't stop, or even start, with recipes. The book begins with suggestions for cookery essentials, which range from the 10-inch cast iron skillet with lid (this one is definitely an essential for many of the recipes), a grill grate (also a must-have) and tongs (always useful) to things that might be getting a little out there if you're traveling light. Things like a hand-cranked spice or coffee grinder, basting or pastry brushes and a hand-cranked ice cream maker. Yea, you'd definitely need at least one horse to haul all of that. But this kind of excess is also tongue in cheek, as for example, when they urge you not to forget your whittling knife or your best silverware (the pair insist that they would never subject their camping companions to eating with disposable utensils).

And if you either flunked out of the boyscouts or never got that far, Huck and Young provide instructions for constructing that ever-important fire, complete with a connoisseur's guide to different types of woods and three different fire designs. If you're worried that any disinclination to actually camp might render this book useless, the authors provide recipes for pantry staples like catsup, mustard, pickled ramps, chutneys and relishes and jams and marmalades. And, as I said, most everything can be made with a grill or even a grill pan. The book ends with a section dedicated to post-meal lounging, with a chart of the constellations, a handy guide to that deck of tarot cards you probably packed, a smattering of poems to be read aloud, some philosophical quandaries to ponder and, of course, songs to be sung.

So that's the book. And this is an example of how an entire meal really can be made outside. Even dessert. Even when that dessert is cake. These little cakes are mixed together and then cooked right in a cast iron skillet. The peach topping gets the same treatment before it's poured over the cakes for serving. Fresh, and summary and completely unexpected. This would be a great party trick for a backyard cookout if camping isn't in the cards.

Grilled Peach-Amaretto Skillet Cakes
Excerpted (with permission) from Campfire Cookery (Stewart, Tabori & Chang; June 2011) by Sarah Huck and Jaimee Young

Provides 4-8 portions

The pairing of sensuously sweet peach and delicately bitter almond is advocated by no less a lover of nature than Charles Darwin, who classified that fruit as an evolved form of the almond. Certainly, the two complement each other when served fresh from the fire with this pancake-like confection. Early- and late-season peaches alike benefit from a buttery caramel sauce - and what, one may inquire, would happen if a ripe height-of-season peach were to be grilled? Oh, sublime magnificence! Would one dare to eat such a peach?

Skillet Cakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons (1/2 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 tablespoons almond paste, cut into pieces
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large farm fresh eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Peach Topping:
4 large, ripe peaches, cut into eighths, stones removed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar, or to taste
1 pinch kosher salt
Crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream, for serving, optional

1. Prepare a medium-high heat fire, with flames occasionally licking the grill grate. Let it burn steadily for 30 minutes. In the meantime, make the skillet cake dough.

2. In a medium bowl, gently combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Use a fork or pastry cutter to mash in 4 tablespoons of the butter and all of the almond paste until crumbs the size of chickpeas form.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, eggs, and amaretto. Use a spatula to make a well in the dry ingredients and scrape the sour cream mixture into it. Fold the ingredients with the spatula until a crumbly dough comes together. Knead the dough several times inside the bowl until it sticks together enough to be shaped. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into two spheres. Pat each sphere into a thickness of 1/2 to 1 inch and cut each into 4 equal wedges. Place the wedges on a plate to bake immediately or wrap them in foil and chill until one is ready to proceed. They will keep overnight.

4. Place a cast-iron skillet upon the grill grate. Drop in the remaining tablespoon butter and wait for it to melt. Whilst wearing one's gloves, pick up the skillet by its handle and swirl the melted butter to coat the pan. Return the skillet to the grill grate.

5. Place 4 wedges in the skillet and sprinkle the Demerara sugar on top. Allow them to cook for 5 to 10 minutes (this will take longer if the shortcakes are chilled). Use the fire-safe spatula to flip the skillet cakes and sprinkle on more Demerara sugar. Continue cooking for another 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer the skillet cakes to a plate and allow them to cool in the open air. Cook the remaining skillet cakes in the same fashion.

6. While the skillet cakes are cooling, grill the peach topping. Carefully place the peach slices, butter, brown sugar, and salt in the still-hot skillet and return it to the grate. Stir the mixture occasionally, until the butter melts. Keep the peach topping over the fire for 8 to 10 minutes, until the peaches are caramelized and slightly crispy. Transfer the skillet to a resting place to cool slightly.

7. Arrange the skillet cakes on dessert plates, providing one or two wedges to a serving as appetites dictate. Spoon on the piping-hot peach topping and add a dollop of crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream if desired.

Lemony Skillet-Seared Rainbow Trout

Although I live in New York City now, I was born and raised in Colorado. Went to college there too because I wanted to keep skiing and climbing 14ers and producing the overabundance of red blood cells that characterize those raised high above sea level. Back then I was also really, really into backpacking and camping. So when I was given the opportunity to review Sarah Huck and Jaimee Young's new book Campfire Cookery, I took it as an opportunity to revisit that former life.

However, when I started reading the book, after being taken with the whimsical, chatty tone, I realized that Huck and Young have a slightly different definition of camping than the one I'd used growing up near the Rockey Mountains. In their introduction, they sum up their outdoor cooking philosophy rather nicely when they write "Frankly, we've never understood why outdoor holidays inspire austerity when nature itself is not austere." I'll tell you why. Because when camping far from your car, you're usually carrying all of your gear with you, on your back, for miles and miles and miles. In this case, lugging along a cast-iron skillet and a 5-quart Dutch oven with lid, both of which will come in handy when using this book, is just not going to happen. Instead, you might find yourself making due with something like the boiled noodles topped with a can of Hormel chili I fondly remember gobbling up at the foot of the Maroon Bells my senior year of college. (I know, in hindsight, that was disgusting.)

On the other hand, if you're camping close to the car, or at one of those camps where you can drive in, have a little cottage all set up for you, and don't need to worry about pruning every ounce from your pack, then you should listen up. Or, if you like the idea of subbing in a grill for a campfire and making all of your food directly on it, that's another root you can take. And actually, the root I did take. Because instead of preparing these recipes in the Colorado mountains, I made them along with my sister and her boyfriend, in Chicago. The views were great in both places.

So for the sake of argument for a moment, since I have two posts coming up about this book, let's say that you're not going to be outside except as far as perching on a high rise balcony is outside. Next post we'll talk about Huck and Young's amusing and strangely fascinating tips on building fires, cooking on fires and even pondering Essential Philosophical Quandaries around fires. But for now, I want to mention that when the authors instruct you to build a high-heat fire and let it burn for 30 minutes, you can also fire up the grill on high and go from there.

For this lunch with my sister and her boyfriend, we made three recipes, all of them from this book. Might as well start with the star of the show: Lemony Skillet-Seared Rainbow Trout. The official instructions (which I've excerpted below) say to prepare a high-heat fire for this one. But you can also prepare a high-heat grill and use a cast iron skillet to cook the fish.

Lemony Skillet-Seared Rainbow Trout
Excerpted (with permission) from Campfire Cookery (Stewart, Tabori & Chang; June 2011) by Sarah Huck and Jaimee Young

Whilst digging a fire pit, one is sure to turn up a few earthworms. Although we fling most of them into the forest to continue performing their duty for our ecosystem, we always save a few for the fishing pole, in hopes of luring tasty rainbow trout from the cool, clean waters near camp. When fishing for trout, one must always plant one's feet firmly upon the riverbank, as their shimmering, colorful skin is uncannily similar to a mermaid's sequined sheath. While the former is destined for the frying pan, the latter draws unassuming fishermen toward tragedy with irresistibly beautiful songs, this flaky, white fish, with a simple lemon-butter dressing, requires only a few moments upon the grill to shine.

2 lemons
Four 8- to 10-ounce whole rainbow trout, cleaned (see page 161, or ask the fishmonger to perform this task)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly milled black pepper, to taste
4 small garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 small bunch fresh thyme
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and patted dry

1. Prepare a high-heat fire, with the flames licking the grill grate. Let it burn steadily for 30 minutes.

2. Slice 1 lemon very thinly; cut the remaining lemon into wedges.

3. Coat the outside of the fish with oil. Season the fish all over, inside and out, with salt and pepper. Stuff each fish with lemon sliced, garlic slices, and thyme. Top with butter cubes and capers.

4. Heat a cast-iron skillet over the grill grate until very hot. Carefully arrange the stuffed trout in the skillet and cook until the skin is crisp-golden and the flesh is opaque and flakes easily with a fork, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

5. Serve hot, with lemon wedges for squeezing over the fish.

Romaine and Summer Vegetable Salad and Lime Vinaigrette

I know, I know. No one actually needs a recipe for a salad. It's a salad. You pick out your veggies in whatever amount and combination you want and toss it together. I mean, a thousand make-your-own-salad joints in NYC can't be wrong. But sometimes when you're standing in front of that glass case choosing between dried cranberries and sunflower seeds, you could use a little inspiration.

Even more to the point, when standing at the entrance to your local farmers market, and when presented with huge 1 pound pattypan squashes, you might hesitate. I mean, it looks like a cartoon flower. What the heck are you supposed to do with something like that? Before now, I'd only seen the pattypan as a mini vegetable, no larger than the size of my palm. And had I actually been at a farmers market, rather than ordering produce from my CSA, I would have been aware that they come full-sized as well. Instead, I ordered 3 huge pattypan squashes in my last box. And this is the first place one of them went. The boil time is brief because they soak up water fast and you don't want them to get mushy. I think you could just leave them raw if you want, but I do prefer the texture after a brief soak.

I'll admit that the salad looks, at first, a bit on the ho-hum side. But all the veggies should be fresh at this time of year, and perfectly flavorful. Also, never underestimate the power of a sprinkle of feta and a great vinaigrette. This is a great vinaigrette. Lime, cilantro, cumin and even cardamom. It's a vinaigrette to take with you to other salads.

Romaine and Summer Vegetable Salad and Lime Vinaigrette
Adapted from Deborah Madison's The Greens Cookbook

1 head romaine lettuce
1 large pattypan squash, quartered and sliced thinly
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 large radishes, sliced thinly
1 large avocado, peeled and chopped
1 cucumber, sliced
Feta cheese
Cilantro sprigs for garnish

Remove the outer leaves from the lettuce and tear the inner leaves into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry the leaves, and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it lightly. Plunge the squash into the boiling water and cook for just a moment. As in literally, one minute, then drain and shock the squash in cold water to stop it from cooking further. Toss the vegetables together then crumble as much feta on top as you want. Garnish with cilantro leaves and dress with the following lime vinaigrette

For the lime vinaigrette:
Zest and juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons cilantro, minced
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 clove garlic, passed through a press
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients except the olive oil and whisk together. Slowly whisk in the oil and use to dress the salad.

Ginger Cookies

Ginger cookies in the summer? What the what? It's too hot out. We should be eating citrus, or fruit, or something cooling. To that I say pfssshhh. Because when I showed up to a friend's get together with these, they were gone fast. And although people told me directly how much they loved them, I also heard them telling each other. I'll admit that I do tend to keep kind of hippy-dippy friends, but none of them suspected that these were made spelt flour and dried apricots. Because they're also made with chocolate and molasses.

This is another one from Heidi Swanson's new book Super Natural Every Day, and it's another winner (shocking, I know). Swanson, being so much more virtuous than I am, confesses that these are the sweetest cookies she makes. They're definitely not the sweetest cookie I've ever made, but they don't suffer from lack of sugar, either. Therefore, she suggests baking them small so you can eat more than one at a time.

And in other news, the Highline in NYC has been extended. And if you're into unique views of the city, this is the place to find them. Don't be surprised if you see a mini-series of pictures from there in the next few weeks.

Ginger Cookies
Adapted from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day

70 grams turbinado sugar
170 grams 70 percent bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
230 grams spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
115 grams unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
100 grams sugar
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 large egg, beaten
170 grams dried apricots, finely chopped

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger and salt. Set aside.

Heat the butter in a pot over medium heat until it just melts, then stir in the molasses, the regular sugar and the grated fresh ginger. Make sure the mixture is only just warm, and definitely not hot enough to cook an egg, which you'll be adding next. If it's too hot, let it sit off the heat for a moment, and then add the beaten egg. Pour this molasses mixture over the waiting flour mixture and fold in the apricots. Next stir in the chocolate and chill the dough for 30 minutes so that it has a chance to stiffen up to a point that it can be rolled into balls.

Preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Pour the turbinado sugar into a shallow bowl and set aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and measure it out in level tablespoons. Roll the dough between your hands until it forms a nice ball, then roll the ball in the waiting turbinado sugar. Place the balls a couple of inches apart on the baking sheets.

Bake two sheets at a time for 7-10 minutes (longer if you got impatient and made cookies larger than level tablespoons). The cookies will puff up and crack a bit on top. The bottoms should be a deep golden color and they will be quite fragrant. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Couscous Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette

You might have noticed a slight trend around here these days. And that trend would be lunch. Big batches of make-ahead recipes that can be stretched over several days. And hardly ever a sandwich. It's not that I have anything against sandwiches...exactly. But I do have a big thing against soggy bread. Even bread soggy with peanut butter and jelly, or just kind of limp with lunch meat. Blech. If it's not made fresh, I'm probably not interested. It's a hold-over from childhood finickiness.

As a kid, my mom worked around my pickiness by essentially packing me deconstructed sandwiches. Swiss cheese rolled around slices of honey-cured ham and secured with a toothpick. Slices of tomatoes, cucumbers and mushrooms seasoned with a sprinkling of salt. A couple of mini bagels on the side. But what I find even easier in the morning is opening up my fridge, and scooping out spoonfuls of prepared grain salads into a travel container. Throw it in my bag, grab a piece of fruit, and lunch is done.

On another note, I've made lots and lots of vinaigrettes in my day, but this is the first one I've ever had that features cinnamon and requires a bit of cooking to coax the spices to dissolve. Full of flavor, I could eat this one for days. Oh wait, I have.

Couscous Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette
Adopted from The Bon Appétit Cookbook (the orange one)

1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 1/3 cups vegetable broth
10 ounces couscous
1 1/2 cups dried fruit, I used a mixture of apricots and raisins, but the original recipe suggests cranberries
1 small shallot, minced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 bunch green onions, white and light green parts chopped (about 5-6 onions)
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
large handful fresh mint, chopped

In a small, heavy saucepan, heat the canola oil, the cinnamon and the cumin until it just boils. Be careful not to burn the spices. Remove from the heat as soon as it bubbles and turns fragrant. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add the couscous and the dried fruit. Cover, turn the heat off, and allow the couscous to absorb the liquid, about 10 minutes. Put the couscous in a large bowl and run a fork through it to break up the grains. Set aside to cool as you prep the rest of the recipe.

Whisk the vinegar and the shallot into the cooled oil mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the couscous. Fold in the green onions, the beans and the mint. Serve.

Shaved Summer Squash Salad

I'm going to keep it brief today because after 10 days in Norway visiting R's family, and then 10 more days split between Denver and Chicago visiting mine, well, I'm tired. (Posts on each trip, with recipes of course, will be coming along eventually.) If you're tired too, maybe from mid-summer's heat or from too much vacationing, there's nothing easier than a shaved summer squash salad for a healthy lunch.

You're just going to use a vegetable peeler to shave ribbons off of summer squash, which you will then dress with a lemony, garlicky vinaigrette. No cooking, no unnecessary heating of the house or apartment. If you plan on eating the salad over the course of a couple of days, store the dressing separately, and only add it to the salad as you eat it.

Shaved Summer Squash Salad
Adapted from this recipe on Epicurious

3 tablespoons whole almonds, toasted and chopped
2 summer squashes, one green and one yellow
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Bunch of arugula

Use a vegetable peeler to peel ribbons off of the squash until both are completely shaved into strips. Set aside in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, toss the squash together with the arugula and dress with the vinaigrette.

Quinoa Black Bean Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

You know what I (and my favorite coworker/friend) have discovered recently? That bringing your lunch and walking the half block to Central Park is so, so much better than trying to fit a trip to an annoying Manhattan restaurant on the Upper East Side into a one hour break. Even on 90 degree days it's better. Even in the humidity, sitting in the sun is better. There are vitamins in that sun! And tan lines to develop.

It's also much, much less expensive. So my game plan has been, make a delicious, nutritious and inexpensive grain salad on Monday (I'm off on Mondays), buy some fruit, and maybe grab one of these bad boys, and lunch is all set for the week. I'll admit that I'm okay with eating the same thing up to four lunches in a row, because that one thing changes all the time. And it really does save time to just make a big batch once and be done with it. Because honestly? I always order the same thing at Alice's Teacup anyway. (The tuna sandwich, if you're interested)

Quinoa Black Bean Salad
Adopted from The Moosewood Collective's Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites

2/3 cups quinoa
2 cups water
2 teaspoon olive oil
juice of 3 small limes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
small handful chopped fresh cilantro
1 bunch of scallions, white and light-green parts minced
15-ounce can black beans, well rinsed and drained
3 medium-size tomatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1/2 green pepper, diced and seeded if you want to cut down on the heat
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse the quinoa in a sieve under running water. In a medium pan, bring the 2 cups of water to a boil, add the quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed, but check early so it doesn't dry out and burn. Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large serving bowl, whisk together the oil, lime juice, cumin, coriander, cilantro and scallions. Gently stir in the beans, tomatoes and bell peppers. Add the quinoa and season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently fold so that all of the ingredients are mixed. Serve and enjoy

UPDATE: The original recipe called for some seeded (I think) and diced chili pepper, but I skipped it, mostly because I forgot to pick one up (it happens). A reader pointed out that I mentioned it in the recipe, but not in the list of ingredients. So if you want something with a little more kick, definitely include the chili pepper!

Oatcakes

Never had an oatcake? Neither had I. Until I realized that this recipe by Heidi Swanson from her new book Super Natural Everyday would use up multiple strange and random ingredients in my pretend pantry (pretend because it's only a few shelves above my sink). I recognize that it's probably not normal to actually have spelt flour, coconut oil, and flax meal (although Heidi calls for seeds) just waiting to be used. But that's what months of experimentation sometimes lead to.

So oatcakes. This is how you make your morning oatmeal portable. Because they're basically little cakes made up of rolled oats and just enough batter to bind the oats together. In the spirit of cleaning out the pantry, I will admit that I didn't have any maple syrup so I subbed in the last of my molasses thinned out with some water.

These aren't particularly sweet, but they are a really great afternoon snack or pre-workout energy boost. And so much better than buying a preservative-laden bar for such things. A little on the dry side, I will admit. But then, that's kind of the nature of oats. Just eat one along with your afternoon coffee break.

Oatcakes
Adopted from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day

300 grams rolled oats
225 grams spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
45 grams flax meal
1 cup chopped walnuts
70 grams coconut oil
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/4 cup molasses whisked with 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, beaten

Oven preheated to 325F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or use muffin liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, flax meal and walnuts. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the coconut oil, butter, molasses/water mixture and sugar over low heat. The sugar should dissolve and the butter should just melt, but don't overheat the mixture because we don't want it to cook the egg when they're combined.

Pour the coconut oil mixture over the dry ingredients and fold them together with a fork until just moistened. Add the beaten egg and stir until the ingredients start to hold together. Spoon the dough evenly into the muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges are a deep gold color.

Remove from the oven and let cool for a moment before removing the oatcakes to a cooling rack.

You might have some extra dough, as I did. If that happens, once the oatcakes come out of the oven and are on the cooling rack, run the muffin tin under some cold water to cool it down and dry it with a towel. Re-grease a few extra cups and spoon the extra batter into them. Fill the empty cups about 3/4 full with water so they don't warp when you bake it. Return the tin to the oven and bake again.

Spinach and Spring Berry Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

Summer salads that include berries are absolutely the best. Usually it's just a handful of blueberries or a couple of sliced strawberries on the top. But why not make what amounts to a berry salad with some handfuls of spinach thrown in? That way, you won't have to eat around the strawberries, making sure you only get one slice per bite so they'll last. You wouldn't have to worry about picking out too many raspberries all at once, because there will be plenty.

I made a huge bowl of this salad to last all week, for lunches brought to work, and snacks when we got home. If you're thinking of doing the same, toss the berries with the spinach, but leave the honey vinaigrette to the side as well as the feta. Add both to individual servings only as you use them so that nothing gets soggy from being stored.

I'm not really going to give you precise amounts because, well, it's a salad. Add what you want in the amount that you want it. Don't see your favorite berry here? (We left out the blueberries, which were kind of mealy and gross. But slices of peach or nectarine would be great.) Add them. Don't like walnuts? Leave them off.

Summer Berry and Spinach Salad

Bunch of spinach
Handful of strawberries
Carton of blackberries
Carton of raspberries
Sprinkle of feta
scant 1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, honey. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In a large serving bowl, toss the fruit together with the spinach. Fold in the feta and dress with the honey vinaigrette. Serve.

Avocado Chocolate Mousse

Let's say that you really want some thick chocolate mousse, but for some reason you're not eating dairy, or you'd rather work a vegetable into your chocolate mousse instead of cream. Say again that you don't mind your chocolate mousse tasting vaguely of chocolate guacamole. Then boy doggie, do I have a recipe for you.

In all seriousness, I am definitely not opposed to the use of avocado in sweet preparations. This Avocado-Grapefruit Cream is still a personal favorite, and I think part of the reason it works so well is that it embraces its avocado-ness, rather than trying to hide it. So when I spotted Avocado Chocolate Mousse on The Kitchn, complete with lovely photos and rave reviews (they were all raves when I checked), I pilfered the two avocados R had been ripening for a week and did this to them. Boy was he ever mad. You know, I lean toward the quirkier end of cooking, I'll admit. And if I were determined not to eat 'real' chocolate mousse, this would probably be a fine substitute, but you're going to have to be prepared for it to be second-best (distantly) to the real stuff. If you go for it, you really need to chill it before serving. I wonder, is there something we could do to save this mousse?

Avocado Chocolate Mousse
Adapted from this recipe on The Kitchn

2 ripe avocados, the meat scooped out of the shell
3 tablespoons honey (more or less to taste.)
1/4 cup unsweetened cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Use a blender or food processor to blend the avocados until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend again until everything is combined. Add more or less honey according to your taste. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.