It has been a tough two weeks at work. Last week was Super Bowl and this week is Valentines weekend. Apparently people order from restaurants on all days near these occasions. It was non stop pumping out food for several hours straight. That is after non stop preparing food for service. I feel like someone put me through a wringer and slapped me on the pavement.
The good thing is that our boss is still making money on his vegan restaurants, while many restaurants and small businesses have gone out of business.
His other original first restaurant is so busy that he constantly has to block people from ordering at some point in the evening on these occasions.
We at our location ran out of a few things last night and had to cancel those items. We ran out of guacamole but there were several cases of avocados so I had to tear them apart, mash them, chop the other ingredients and squeeze a dozen limes as if it would save me from drowning in a coming ocean wave. Because of daily avocado mashing, I am currently turned off of avocados. I do love the combination of lime juice, onion and cilantro.
There is a growing debate about avocados not being a vegan friendly fruit. Some farmers transport bees to pollenate the trees. Apparently bees get harmed in the trucks which sounds horrible to me. However I am not going to get into this debate. I may not consume avocados that I know for sure are grown this way, but until then I will not avoid them if I ever start liking them again.
Because of this, there is a popular way to make guacamole using green peas. The consistency is not as fatty and creamy but the flavors are there.
I made some dips and crackers on my days off to compensate for over eating foods that I need a break from like white flour. I had never tried pea guacamole before so I thought it would be a good time.
Using the same ingredients with the added garlic, I substituted avocados with frozen green peas. I added some macadamia nuts as well. That is all I had but cashews would have been good as well.
Pea guacamole
2 cups frozen peas
1 onion chopped
1 bunch chopped cilantro
juice of 2 limes
1 chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup nuts or seeds (I used macadamia)
1 jalapeno minced (optional)
Salt to taste
I put a spoon of minced garlic but traditional Mexican guacamole usually doesn't have it. Put the peas, juice and the nuts in the food processor until it's smooth. Add the chopped ingredients to it in a bowl and mix.
For the second dip I used eggplant that was in the markdown bin. They were really good still so I roasted them in the oven with some onion and garlic.
After roasting I put them in the food processor with around 3 tablespoons of tahini, the juice of 2 lemons, salt to taste and a little olive oil. I suppose you could call it Baba Ganoush the middle Eastern dip.
I made a gluten free cracker from ground sunflower seeds, chickpea flour and flax that was cracked a little in the blender.
Seed and flax crackers
1 cup sunflower seeds ground
1 cup flax cracked
1 cup chickpea flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
Mix a little water in a little at a time until you can form a ball but fairly stiff. Roll it in between two sheets of parchment until as flat.
I wasn't sure how I would cut it so I let my hand decide.
My hand decided on strips.
For the second cracker I used cornmeal, corn flour not cornstarch. The seasonings were almost the same as the seed cracker with the addition of a pinch of cumin, thyme and chili. The same procedure as the other cracker.
They were put in the oven on low, 275F and watched until they were crunchy.
This was an experiment. I have never made crackers before. I am pretty excited with the possibilities now that I have made these.
I decided to go round with these like mini tortilla crackers.
This was our lunch which was only partially consumed. Surprisingly quite satisfying.
The pea dip tasted just like guacamole. It is good also for someone who just doesn't want the fat of avocadoes. I am not concerned about avocado fat. I just am not interested in avocadoes right now.
Well I'm off to work to pump out some food for the final Valentines day. Marc and I are the only cooks so it's pretty rough. We have no idea if it will be as busy as yesterday or busier so we have to prepare.
I did manage to convince my manager to get someone to come in to make guacamole so I can get ahead on other things.
I wish you all a lovely weekend!