Easy Avocado Salad and Avocado Handeling Tips

Easy and Delicious Avocado Salad

Avocado! this magical fruit (because they have a seed they are considered as fruit)! I am utterly fascinated by avocados. I love the color, the shape, the smooth texture, the smell! Ok, you got the picture...I love Avocados!
When Alya started eating solid food, within a month, I started feeding her avocados and she loved them. Alas, now she does not appreciate the texture. I hope she will come back to her senses because avocados are the perfect food.  If I had to choose one food item to eat for life, it would be avocado. 

Luckily I live in beautiful sunny California and I have access to the best avocados. I always have them around the house because they are so easy to use and very versatile.  I buy them firm and unripe. I put couple of avocados in my fruit bowl on the kitchen counter and put the rest in the fridge until I need them. The ones on the counter will be ripe in couple of days. If you've got rock-hard avocados and you have to use them there are few things you can do to make your avocados get soft quicker.

• Place 2-3 avocados in a brown paper bag and store at room temperature. If you don't have paper bags on hand, wrapping them in newspaper will also do.
• For even quicker ripening, add an apple or a tomato to the bag.
• Check daily to see if avocados are ripe yet. Don't just judge by their color, as some varieties will retain their green color, even when ripe, rather than turning a deep greenish brown.
• Ripe avocados will peel easily and are soft, yet still firm and not squishy.
• If your avocados are ripening before you have a chance to eat them, place them in the crisper of your refrigerator, as this will help them keep a bit longer once they are ripe.

One easy way to use the avocados is to make this easy Avocado Salad. I eat it by itself with with some bread for lunch or as a side dish with grilled salmon and chicken.

Ingredients:

1-2 ripe Avocado

1-2 cloves of garlic (you can adjust the garlic according to your taste)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Juice of a half a lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Serves 2 to 4 persons as a side dish

Method:

In a mortar ad pestle crush the garlic and salt. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and pepper. Peel and cut the avocado to half inch pieces and mix. It is okay if some avocado pieces get smashed while mixing, actually it is even better because it adds more creaminess to the salad.

Enjoy!
Nadine