Yesterday we attended the 6th Annual Avocado Festival right here in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
You may not know this, but avocados are hands-down my absolute favorite food. The festival hosted a recipe contest, so I couldn't resist entering my first ever live competition.
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| Over 50 people voted in the People's Choice contest |
I submitted two recipes: Avocado Pie and Pan-seared Mahimahi with Avocado Remoulade (recipe below). Both recipes ended up being winners! The pie took the People's Choice contest while the mahimahi won the hearts of the judges.
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| The one marked "Gwen Edwards" is my Avocado Pie |
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| Mahimahi |
The whole thing was quite nerve-wracking for me, as you can see. But at the end of the day, it was a lot of fun to participate and I most certainly enjoyed being part if the Avocado Festival.
There were so many yummy treats and interesting booths at the fest, can't wait to attend next year!
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| Avo smoothie |
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| Guacamole in a lilikoi cup |
Special thank you to the Miyamotos for the wonderful avocados from their backyard tree, this wouldn't have been possible without those buttery beauties!
Pan-seared Mahimahi with Avocado Remoulade (award winning, weeeeeeee!)
Inspired by Simply Recipes
Remoulade:
2 large avocados
4-5 TBL olive oil
5-6 TBL fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 shallot
salt & pepper to taste
Fish:
4 mahimahi fillets
1 TBL cumin powder
salt & pepper
olive oil
In a food processor or blender, combine avocados, lemon juice, shallot, and mustard until smooth. Slowly add olive oil until you reach a "sauce" consistency. You may need to add more lemon juice if you want it thinner. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Sprinkle cumin, salt and pepper over all sides of the fish and gently rub in. Heat a pan over medium high heat and coat with olive oil. You don't want to crowd the pan, so you may need to cook the fish in batches. I did them one at a time. Place a fillet in the hot oil and sear for 5 minutes. Don't touch the fish while it sears. Flip the fillet and cover the pan for another 3 minutes. This last part may take longer or shorter depending on the thickness of your fillets. Again, don't mess with it while it cooks, just touch it with your spatula or finger after the 3 minutes to determine doneness, like you would with a steak.
I served the fish and remoulade with wild rice mixed with a little lemon juice and olive oil. Enjoy!
Congratulations! I can't wait to try your recipe, it sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteI have a ton of salmon I need to get through. Do you think this would work with the salmon? I'm on the avocado wagon with you and am slightly addicted to them. I would love to try this asap.
ReplyDeleteThis would totally work with salmon. That's how I originally made this dish, but wanted to use local fish for the contest.
DeleteWoot woot! I can't tell you how excited I am to get this in my belly! hehehe. I need to find some worthy avocado's. At this rate, I'm going to end up flying to hawaii just to get avocado's. I read in your pie update you guys grow 'em BIG. They definitely have them here, just not that big. Oh my waist line is definitely hating me at this point. Soooo many good foods to eat.
DeleteAnd congrats on the massive wins Gwen! So happy for you. I knew you could do it!!! Iron Chef, here she comes!!!
ReplyDeleteHeck yes! I need to try that and hopefully plan a visit just for that event. YUM. I love avocados are the perfect mixture of healthy and not-so-healthy.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the wins!!! I'm all about avocados and really need to try this recipe!
ReplyDeleteOH my mouth is WATERING. I love avocados probably too much. Your blog is adorable!! Newest reader :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Danielle!
DeleteI L O V E avocados. If I ever come to Hawaii I think I will have to make sure my visit coincides with this festival. Also well done you on winning with your recipes! Unfortunately I live in a country where, in 14 years, I have probably had two ripe and delicious avocados.
ReplyDeletepity that is, avocados are so very precious. But there's lots of delicious treats you can get over there that we never see here. Thanks for reading!
DeleteGWEN!!!! Congratulations! I am so proud of you. *jumping up and down*
ReplyDeleteI've never been to an avocado festival before, which is a pity, because I love avocados, too. Your avocado pie sounds yummy! My filipino brother from another mother likes to add sugar to the avocado and eat it with crackers, which is yummy! So, I can only imagine what your pie taste like.
Right now, I'm obsessed with avocado poke. So, instead of using ahi, I use avocados. It's so good. It's even better with the ahi, but you know some people don't like the whole raw fish thing.
Thank you for sharing your award winning mahi mahi recipe! I am going to try it when Safeway has better avocados.
ooh I like the avocado poke idea. There is a poke contest happening next month here on the Big Island!
DeleteThanks for the support lovey
Wow! That is so awesome, high five. I adore avocados too and that festival is worth a trip to the big island. I've got two avocados sitting on my kitchen island as I write this. I'm printing your recipe out right now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tania! If you try it, let me know how it turns out
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