Charred California Avocado with Toasted Buckwheat Crackers

Chef Justin Cogley
Aubergine, Carmel-by-the-Sea

Chef Justin Cogley at a Black Jacket Society event.

Chef Cogley’s cuisine showcases the finest seasonal ingredients creatively offering dishes that are unique and pure. For a new take on a favorite California appetizer, Chef offers an alternative to traditional chips and guacamole with these healthy crunchy crackers, which are delicious on their own, but even better with charred California avocados, corn and spring onions topped off with freshly made pico de gallo.

Overview

Gaggenau Appliances: Convection oven, (optional: grill)

Serves 4 as an appetizer

For the buckwheat crackers:

¾ cup (90g) buckwheat flour

¾ cup (90g) unbleached all-purpose flour

¾ cup (90g) whole wheat flour

¾ cup (90g) fine ground flax meal

¾ cup (90g) finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

1 tbsp (20g) kosher salt

6 fl oz (180g) water

2 fl oz (60g) extra virgin Olive oil

Sea Salt

To bake the buckwheat crackers:

Pulse the flours together in the bowl of a food processor to combine then stir in the ground flax meal, cheese and salt. With the motor running add the oil and enough water for the dough to come together in a ball. Do not overmix. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Heat the oven in the Convection mode to 340° F and line the blue oven baking tray with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough to a rectangle approximately 15”x 9” then cut the dough into triangles.

Carefully arrange on the prepared oven tray, sprinkle with a little sea salt and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the crackers are crisp and browned on the edges.

Cool before storing in an airtight container. Makes approximately 36 crackers.

A close-up of the toasted buckwheat crackers.

Chef note:

The buckwheat crackers served with this recipe come together quickly but need to rest for an hour in the refrigerator before being baked, for convenience they can be made and baked a day in advance.

For the pico de gallo:

1 jalapeno, deseeded and finely diced

½ white onion, cut into fine dice

1 ripe tomato, deseeded and diced

¼ tsp (2g) ground cumin

½ lime, juice and zest, remaining half cut into wedges for garnish

1 tbsp (3g) chopped fresh cilantro leaves

To make the pico de gallo:

Combine the jalapeno, onion, tomato, cumin, lime juice, zest and cilantro. Season to taste and set aside until ready to serve.

Prior to serving, the avocado, scallions and corn are grilled in the Convection oven at 550° F, to achieve a delicious smokey char.

For the charred avocado, corn and spring onion:

1 firm avocado, cut in half, pit removed

1 bunch scallions, roots removed

1 spring red onion bulb root removed and cut into quarters (or ½ a shallot)

1 cob yellow corn

⅛ cup (30ml) oat milk

1 tsp (5g) oil

1 lime, juice and zest

To make the charred avocado, corn and spring onion:

Heat the oven in the Broil mode to 550° F.

Lightly coat the avocado, corn, scallions and red onion quarters in heat tolerant oil, place on the blue oven tray lined with foil, shiny side down and cook on rack position 4, counting up from the bottom with the door closed, until charred and tender. Approximately 8 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven, finely dice the charred scallions and mix with a little lime juice and salt. Mash half of the avocado together with the scallion paste, oat milk, cumin, lime juice and zest and season with salt and pepper. Cut the remaining half avocado into chunks and fold in gently. Remove the corn kernels from the cob.

Cooking Option - if you have a Gaggenau grill, the avocado, onion, corn and scallions can be charred on the grill, using level 8.

The dish, surrounded by colorful vegetables.

To serve, place a mound of avocado on the plate, make a divot in the mix with the back of a tablespoon and spoon the corn and some pico de gallo into the divot. Place the crackers upright alongside the avocado, garnish with the quartered spring onion, lime wedge and cilantro.

Dinnerware by Hering Berlin
Photography by Adahlia Cole and Colin Peck

View the printable pdf recipe

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