Avocado with Savory Tomato Sorbet and Chips

I'm tagging this recipe as a definite don't. I like all the ingredients, so theoretically, it should have been mediocre at the very least. But somehow the whole is way less than the sum of its parts. It's too bad, I love unusual dishes like this so I had high hopes, especially because the reviews were so positive. They really sold me. To be fair, maybe I did something wrong, I don't know. I did follow the directions. I hesitated to post it, but I thought some of you might be interested (especially if you saw this recipe online and thought about trying it). If I can save one person from having to taste this, my work here is done.

AVOCADO WITH SAVORY TOMATO SORBET AND CHIPS

Makes 8 servings

tomato sorbet:

4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

3/4 cup tomato juice

1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon hot sauce (preferably Tabasco)

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 ripe avocados

olive oil cooking spray

1 small lime, peeled, membranes removed from segments, and segments diced

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

8 baked corn chips, crushed

freshly ground black pepper

12 leaves cilantro, roughly chopped

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1.      Blend tomatoes, tomato juice, oil, lime juice and hot sauce with 1/2 cup water in a blender or food processor until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids. Add the salt. Freeze in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer’s instructions. Store in freezer.

2.      Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low; cook 10 minutes more. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature. Blend in a blender until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids. Set aside.

3.      Slice avocado thinly and divide among 8 small plates, fanning out slices to form a flat surface. Coat avocado with cooking spray; cover with plastic wrap until needed (to prevent oxidation).

4.      Place diced lime on and around avocado. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place 1 scoop sorbet on top of avocado slices; drizzle with 1 teaspoon onion oil. Divide chips among plates; sprinkle with black pepper. Garnish with cilantro.

from Self, May 2010 by José Andrés

beautiful summer tomatoes

all the sorbet ingredients in the food processor

pureed

straining the puree

pouring the puree into the ice cream machine

tomato sorbet (bleck!)

cooking the onions

I blended these and I guess I went too far because
it turned into a puree instead of something strainable.
There was no way I was getting any oil to separate from
this, so I tried again. Maybe this whole recipe just wasn't
meant to be for me.

I tried again...this time I didn't even blend the onions and oil.
I just strained out the onions. The oil was delicious (that
I would make again).

avocado (save yourself the time and
discomfort and just eat one of these plain)

cutting off the lime peel

avocado slices, diced lime and salt arranged on the plate
(that probably tastes great...I should have just made this)

crushed corn chips (also very tasty on their own)

.