Pops De Milk

For Father’s Day my family came over to hang out and eat a quick, simple dinner. Both my parents were exhausted so they couldn’t stay very long.  Normally we spend a few hours playing board games but this time we ate dinner and sat on the balcony drinking beers for a bit before my parents and youngest sister left. We also took turns speaking on the phone with my middle sister in Ottawa. My sister in Ottawa is not the cooking type, per se, but she does make attempts to prepare some sort of nutritious meal for herself. When asked what I cooked up for Father’s Day dinner she was pleased to discover it was incredibly easy to make, not to mention uber yummy.

The idea for this meal comes from a vegetarian cookbook I found at my mom’s place a few months ago. It’s called Cheap & Easy: Vegetarian Cooking on a Budget by Rose Elliot. I checked out the pasta section (titled Fasta Pasta) listing all sorts of pasta additions and the one that drew my attention was Pasta with Avocado. Until last night I had never thought to add avocado to any cooked food item, let alone spaghetti noodles. I knew I had to try this since avocados are one of my favourite vegetable…or fruit, I’m still not sure what it is.

One of my favourite salads is avocado salad. Basically you dice a couple of avocados, a couple of hard boiled eggs and mix it all up with diced onions, tomatoes, green peppers and a generous portion of freshly squeezed lime juice. Whenever I think of eating avocado this salad is usually what I have in mind when thinking of how to eat the avocado. Besides guacamole of course. Or a substitute for mayo on a sandwich…Mmm…avocado and turkey sandwich…

So, as I began to boil the water for the pasta noodles I thought, “Why not combine my favourite salad with the noodles?” The only difference being that I sautéed the onion, tomatoes and green peppers in lime juice and ground cumin.

While that was cooking I skewered mushrooms and cubes of tofu I had marinated very briefly in Frank’s Redhot sauce and I broiled them for about ten minutes. I know now for future reference that I should marinate tofu overnight if I want the flavours to be fully absorbed.

Once the noodles were ready I mixed in the avocados and sautéed veggies along with more lime juice until all the noodles were well coated.

Result? It was SO good! As the book says, the buttery texture of the avocado complimented the pasta and the sautéed vegetables brought everything together nicely. Everyone really liked it and now my sister in Ottawa is excited to try this quick and easy dish.