Creamy Avocado Pasta Comfort Food

Thursday was a little rough for me. A good artist friend dropped a news bomb that meant things are going to change in a group we've worked together with for the last year, and even when change is logical and fine, it's still a mild shock to the system. Food-wise, that translated to: Meh. I want avocado.


Comfort food that isn't deep fried or covered in chocolate?

Creamy Avocado Pasta

Ingredients:

• 8 oz organic whole wheat linguine
• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 heaping tbsp of ricotta cheese
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• dash of paprika (for garnish)

Preparation:
Bring lightly-salted water to a boil in a pot and add pasta. Cook until tender, about 12 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, then add the chopped red onion and garlic. Sauté for 3 minutes, or until fragrant. Set aside.

Slice avocados around the middle. Remove the pits, then scoop the fruit into a bowl or cool saucepan. Add the cooked onions and garlic, cream, ricotta cheese, spices, and the other tbsp of olive oil, then mash together and stir until smooth and creamy. Add the warm pasta to the sauce and stir until thoroughly coated. Top with a dash of paprika and/or black pepper and serve.

Makes 4 delicious, comforting servings.

Something I learned here:



I'm sure most serious cooks already know this little fact, but as an artist playing at being a cook on a blog, I had no idea. If you have a spaghetti serving spoon with a hole in it like this one, you can use the hole to measure out a perfect (2 oz.) serving portion of spaghetti or other long pastas. My husband picked that up in a restaurant's kitchen years ago... I always thought the hole was just for letting water drain out. How cool is that??