Avocados: tasty, and all the rage.
The minute I discovered people paying $15 for avocados on toast, I knew I should quit my job and become an avocado chef. I’m still working on the details.
Meanwhile, I’ve decided to share some of my favorite recipes for avocados.
Avocados truly are the best. It’s hard to believe I never even saw one until I was in my early twenties. I was visiting my friend Melissa in San Antonio, Texas. She put misshapen green squares on my salad. I’m a vegetarian, so I’ll try anything green. These didn’t disappoint.
They were avocados. I was in love.
Melissa couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried avocado before, but in my house we had pretty standard food–a veggie, a starch and a meat (until I stopped eating meat), not touching each other on a plate.
Avocados were not on the grocery list. They’re a staple in my house today at any price.
My friend Joyce reports avocados cost her $2.50, but I can get a perfectly ripe avocado for anywhere from 99 cents at my local Spanish market to a dollar fifty at the large grocery store. I never run out of avocados.
When I shop, I buy a couple ripe and ready to go, and a few that need a little more time. Avocado shopping is a science–these things will go from golf-ball hard to overripe quickly–best to pay attention.
Here are some of my favorite ideas for one of the best foods on the planet:
Stuffed Avocados:
The photo for this post shows two stuffed avocados, but the sky’s the limit here. Try a few of the following:
- Left: Avocado stuffed with pico de gallo made of fresh tomatoes, garlic, home-grown cilantro, chopped onions, and a tiny bit of salt and lime. I stopped short of stuffing this avocado with guacamole–seemed a little redundant.
- Right: Avocado stuffed with egg salad made from my own chicken eggs, garlic, homemade mayo, and homegrown herbs (chives, dill, parsley).
- More fun with stuffed avocado:
- Stuff with quinoa, sundried tomato, feta, and kalamata
- Try plopping a bit of tzatziki sauce or hummus inside
- Top with homemade ranch dressing
Overpriced Avocado Toast for Way Less Than a Hipster Restaurant:
Honestly, I can’t believe the craze here. But crack out your favorite bruschetta, panini, ciabatta, focaccia, and add a few ingredients like cucumber, cheese, tomato, or fresh herbs and make an Avocado Toast of the Day. I bet you can keep this up for 365 days on Instagram without batting an eyelash.
My Personal Recipe for Guacamole eggs
This is one of my favorite uses of avocados.
- Fry or poach a couple eggs.
- Top with a rough-chopped guac made of avocados, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, salt, and lime.
One Famous Chef Recipe I thought I’d Hate
This is one of my favorite avocado recipes based on a recipe by chef Giada De Laurentiis. I only made it because it looked so horrible I couldn’t resist. It’s delicious, and I’ve apologized in my mind each time I made it.
- Make a pesto out of 3 cups arugula, 2 avocados, 1 cup grated parm, salt, 1 cup basil leaves, and 3 tablespoons of lime juice. I never measure. I use my Cuisinart food processor for this one.
- Toss over some noodles. You can make this paleo, gluten-free, or traditionally depending on the noodles you use–lightly fried zucchini noodles and rice noodles work wonderfully, or you can cook up a pound of linguini, too. Chef Giada tosses with sliced almonds and seasons with cracked pepper. I don’t. I drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil.
- Other ideas for this pesto:
- Use it as a sandwich spread
- Mix in a little cream cheese and use as a dip
- Top a salad with this
I have a feeling this is a post I’ll keep editing, because avocados really are that good. If you have any recipes that should be included, respond to this post or sign up for the newsletter and reply with your suggestions.