Avocado Fries

It's Thursday way-too-early morning (anyone else up at 5:30 today?) and I've hit my working week wall.  Tonight I'll be going down to Corvallis to the OSU Beavers basketball game and then sleeping in the car all the way back to Astoria, getting up again tomorrow and finishing off my week.  Needless to say I'm low on energy.  Good thing I was planning on posting my Avocado Fries on a low energy day!  I made these the other night and was hooked.  I'm not sure if it was the warm outside with smooth avocado on the inside, or just making a sinfully decadent treat that I didn't have to share with anybody, but they were amazing.

It was one of those kinda weeks where I needed to indulge in something that is so bad it's good.

Minion: Sir, I think this is a bad idea... 

Megamind: Yes, a very wickedly bad idea for the greater good of bad! 

Minion: But I'm saying it's the kind of bad that... Okay, you might think is good from your bad perception, but from a good perception... It's just plain bad. 

Megamind: Oh, you don't know what's good for bad!   

No idea why I keep thinking about that scene in Megamind while I'm writing this, but it is making me laugh so I'll just go with it.

Alright, no more distractions... Avocado Fries are, well exactly what the title says, fried avocados with a crispy exterior and cilantro lime dipping sauce.  I've topped things with avocado before, made them into dressings and sauces, but never fried them.  Like most things fried there isn't much to making them, just avocado, panko, flour, an egg and salt.  (Forgive me, but I didn't take pictures early in the process, I was worried that the avocados would get brown.)

I start by slicing my avocado in half and then slicing the half into smaller, thin pieces.  Then I beat my egg and lay out my flour on the cutting board and panko on a plate.  Avocado slice goes in the flour, the egg and then the panko, sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt and is set aside to be fried.

Photo by Holliday 2012

I already have about 1-1/2 inches of oil heating on the stove and as soon as it's ready I drop the coated avocado gently into the pan.  While they are browning I toss a couple spoonfuls of mayo, fresh cilantro and lime juice in the blender and puree it until it is a nice green color and smooth.

By this time my fries are a perfect brown so I scoop them out of the oil with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel to drain.  I pour the sauce into a small dipping bowl and put the still warm fries on the plate.  Time to enjoy!  I'm slightly skeptical about these, but that feeling soon disappeared.  The fries were perfect.  Crunchy outside, smooth inside and the lime sauce brought some sunshine into my kitchen.  I was happy I only made 1/2 an avocado worth, because any more and I would have not been a happy camper.  There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  Haha.

Anyways, the colors were beautiful and the flavors were perfectly balanced.  Next time (in like a month) I'll make sure to slice the avocado slices a bit thinner, the thick slices were a bit overwhelming.  Other then that, I hope you try them at least once because they are quite unique!

Photo by Holliday 2012

¡Buen provecho!