Avocado Flash Recipes for Summer

I think we have established that I love avocados. Growing up in Puerto Rico, I often thought that no meal was complete without avocado. Over the years, I have shared some of my favorite avocado recipes (here, here, and in the Amapola Press Pinterest board). And there is no avocado recipe that doesn’t get my attention!

A summer staple now, we keep flash frozen shrimp in the freezer—always good for a quick meal. Whether boiled with a dash of Old Bay or quickly sautéed with a sprinkling of garlic powder and some sort of crushed pepper, the warm shrimp served with diced avocado and topped with lemon (or lime juice) is the perfect centerpiece to a big salad. And prep and cooking time will never exceed 10 minutes.

The combination of salty and sweet in a creamy marriage is absolutely enchanting! It’s also filling.

And just as easily as you used to make a big salad, you can use the mix for tacos, for a rice bowl with black beans, or as a dollop to dress up a clear broth or a gazpacho.

This is similar but less minimalist

I love ceviche with avocado, and fried fish with avocado, and fish stew with avocado. Avocados are very accommodating that way: they’ll be just as delicious in a tuna salad as in a topping for lobster rolls.

Our latest obsession has been adapting this Venezuelan Avocado Chicken Salad to our taste (though we admit the recipe as written is pretty darn great!). We’ve been making enough so that after a salad we can also have sandwiches the next day. We’ve been adding marinated jalapeño slices to it, Sriracha, a lemon pepper mix Mom loves… We doubled the garlic, of course. And it has been too hot to make arepas, but that’s next (come on autumn!!!).

Our next tasting joy will be trying out a dairy free avocado pesto, which I believe will be the perfect sauce for zoodles and grape tomatoes.

SOURCE: Wikipedia Commons

For the record, avocado goes well with red meat too – though we are trying to limit our consumption of it. We use an avocado crema as a spread for steak sandwiches instead of mayo. I generally whip the avocado with a little lemon juice, pepper, a dash of salt and olive oil, but I love this recipe too.

We’ve moved to a heart healthy menu but we have not sacrificed taste—just added a little less salt to our dishes and relied far more on our little grill to cook our meals. Through it all, I get to continue my love affair with the avocado.