Tangy avocado salad, hot walnuts, a word on weights, and wine-tasting secrets - includes related articles - includes recipe

Sunset, April, 1995 by Jerry Anne Di Vecchio

Since weights don't wear out, they can often be found in secondhand and antiques shops. The trick is to get a full set.

FIRE FAST FOOD

A green Georgian pate

Phkali (p-kol-y) is a refreshingly simple, light, and delicious vegetable pate that hails from the Georgian republic via Seattle's Pirosmani Restaurant. Since the Iron Curtain was raised, the unique qualities of the countries behind it are reemerging. Pirosmani's chef and co-owner, Laura Dewell, knows Georgia firsthand because she has spent time cooking in this sunny country, which is nestled between the Black and Caspian seas with the Caucasus Mountains as a backdrop. The Georgian dishes on Pirosmani's menu speak of the Mediterranean character of the region.

Traditionally, phkali is served as small round cakes beside flatbread stuffed with fresh mozzarella and feta (Mexican panela and queso fresco are alternatives).

Phkali. You need 1 1/2 cups dry-squeezed cooked spinach leaves. To get this amount, start with 2 pounds (6 qt., lightly packed) spinach leaves. Rinse and drain. Stir leaves (they have enough moisture on them for cooking) in a 6- to 8-quart pan over high heat until wilted. Drain spinach in a colander. When cool, put about 1/4 of the leaves at a time in a square of cheesecloth and twist to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. (You can also start with 2 boxes, 10 oz. each, frozen spinach; thaw, drain, and squeeze.) Whirl the spinach in a food processor until it is coarsely chopped, then set it aside.

In food processor, make a smooth paste by whirling 1/4 cup chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, 1/4 cup packed Italian parsley leaves, and 1/2 cup walnuts (toasted, if desired; see Back to Basics). Scrape mixture into a bowl. Add spinach and mix well. Stir in, to taste, salt and about 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar.

Pat mixture into 2-tablespoon-size thin round cakes, or pack pate into a small dish and scoop out to serve. If making ahead, cover and chill up to 1 day. Makes 2 cups.

Per 1/4 cup: 78 cal. (58 percent from fat); 4.5 g protein; 5 g fat (0.5 g sat.); 6.3 g carbo.; 92 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.

NEWS NOTE

Pasta doodling

A lot of folks are having fun with pasta shapes these days. You're apt to find bicycles, bunnies, hearts, stars, seasonal autumn leaves and Christmas trees, and many other nontraditional shapes, plain or colored by food ingredients. But, believe it or not, there's more.

Buckeye Beans & Herbs in Spokane (800/449-2121) also offers sports shapes - footballs, soccer balls, and baseball bats, balls, and gloves. Canterbury Cuisine in Redmond, Washington (800/733-6663), has Western gear - cowboy hats and boots. Both have catalogs.

The Buckeye catalog provokes chuckles like the ones I got when I served baseball pasta to a baseball-freak friend. I cooked the pasta in clear broth soup so the shapes would show up well, then kept mum with others around the table and watched his reaction - puzzled, squinting to be sure, then a sheepish, tickled-pink smirk.