Boardash: Avocado Mousse, Shrimp Enchiladas, and Mangos and Berries with Kahlua Sauce

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Recipes: ArcaMax Chef

For You
Friday February 5, 2010

Appetizer -- Avocado Mousse
Main Course -- Shrimp Enchiladas
Dessert -- Mangos and Berries with Kahlua Sauce
Grocery List
Tales from the ArcaMax Chef

We hope y'all enjoy this menu that serves 6 to 8.

Appetizer -- Avocado Mousse

3 large avocados, peeled and pitted
2 cups sour cream
2 cloves garlic
One quarter cup green onion, chopped
One quarter cup fresh cilantro
One half tsp. chili powder
One half tsp. ground cumin
One half tsp. salt
Juice of 1 lime
One third cup chicken broth or dry white wine
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

Place first 9 ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Heat chicken broth or wine and dissolve gelatin envelopes in liquid. Add to avocado mixture and blend. Grease an 8-cup mold and line with plastic wrap. Pour mixture in mold and refrigerate for several hours or until set. Serve with tortilla chips and/or crackers.

The Skinny: Use light sour cream and fat free chicken broth or alcohol free white wine. Avocados contain a lot of fat but it is supposed to be the good kind of fat.

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Main Course -- Shrimp Enchiladas

2 pounds medium shrimp
2 10-oz. cans cream of shrimp soup
1 cup salsa (use your favorite)
1 cup sour cream
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
One quarter cup fresh cilantro, chopped
One quarter cup shallots, peeled and chopped
One half tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
8 flour tortillas

Boil shrimp until they just turn pink, allow to cool. When shrimp are cooled peel them. Combine 1 can of cream of shrimp soup, salsa, sour cream, 1 cup of the Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, shallots, cumin, chili powder and lemon juice in a saucepan and heat thoroughly. Add shrimp and heat for a couple more minutes. In a separate pan heat the other can of cream of shrimp soup and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese until cheese melts. Warm tortillas by placing them in a warm oven for several minutes. Place about one quarter cup shrimp mixture on each tortilla and roll up. Place tortillas in a baking dish and pour soup and cheese mixture over them. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 25 minutes.

The Skinny: Use a reduced fat cream of shrimp soup if you can find it. Use low fat sour cream and low fat cheese. Use fat free tortillas; we have used them often and they are very good.

Spicy Mexican Salad

1 head Romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 small red onion, sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 avocado, peeled pitted and diced
1 seedless cucumber, sliced
2 oranges, peeled and sliced
One half cup goat cheese, crumbled
One third cup olive oil
One half cup orange juice
2 serrano chiles, chopped
1 Tbsp. orange zest
1 tsp. ground coriander

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Combine last 5 ingredients in a cruet and shake well to make dressing. Just before serving, dressing pour over salad and toss.

The Skinny: Not much you can do here. The goat cheese is lower in fat than most other cheeses.

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Dessert -- Mangos and Berries with Kahlua Sauce

1 pint strawberries, washed and hulled
1 pint raspberries, washed
1 pint blackberries or blueberries, washed
One third cup sugar
One half cup Kahlua or other coffee flavored liqueur
4 mangos, peeled and diced

Combine all berries, sugar and Kahlua in a blender and blend until smooth. Place individual serving of mangoes in a dessert bowl or parfait glass and pour berry mixture over them. Serve chilled.

The Skinny: Use your favorite sugar substitute. If you cannot tolerate alcohol then leave out the liqueur.

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Grocery List

4 large avocados
2 cups sour cream
2 cloves garlic
One quarter cup green onion, chopped
One quarter cup fresh cilantro
One half tsp. chili powder
One half tsp. ground cumin
One half tsp. salt
Juice of 1 lime
One third cup chicken broth or dry white wine
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 pounds medium shrimp
2 10-oz. cans cream of shrimp soup
1 cup salsa (use your favorite)
1 cup sour cream
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
One quarter cup fresh cilantro, chopped
One quarter cup shallots, peeled and chopped
One half tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
8 flour tortillas
1 head Romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 small red onion, sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 seedless cucumber, sliced
2 oranges, peeled and sliced
One half cup goat cheese, crumbled
One third cup olive oil
One half cup orange juice
2 serrano chiles, chopped
1 Tbsp. orange zest
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 pint strawberries, washed and hulled
1 pint raspberries, washed
1 pint blackberries or blueberries, washed
One third cup sugar
One half cup Kahlua or other coffee flavored liqueur
4 mangos, peeled and diced

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Tales from the ArcaMax Chef

My first house was made for a leaf waiter. The house faced the west and fronted a road that ran north/south. The house sat on a corner so I had no neighbor on the north side of the house. There were a number of pine trees in the back yard and a few regular leafy trees in the front yard.

As autumn would approach the leaves would fall all over the neighborhood and into my front yard. Most of my neighbors were rakers and they would assembly in their respective yards and rake and bag away.

As a novice leaf waiter, I was not yet comfortable with my method of leaf removal. I would rake the back yard as a diversion to the leaf waiting method. The beauty of back yard raking is that the pine needles didn't need to be bagged. I could just rake the needles up into piles around the pine trees and it looked fine.

The back yard raking was just a ruse to appease the rakers in the neighborhood. What I was really waiting for was a good storm, preferably a Nor'Easter, to come blowing through. The affects of such a storm were immediate and very satisfyingthe winds from the north would blow all of my leaves out of my neighborhood and down the street into the other neighbor's yards. Since there was no house to the north of my house, no one's leaves blew into my yard.

Once the storm would pass, my front yard would be remarkably leaf free. My initial entry into the calm peaceful world of being a leaf waiter was smooth and very successful.

God Bless America.

Enjoy!