The avocado is no longer a signifier of brunching profligacy – Australia is harvesting a bumper crop.
According to the agribusiness bank Rabobank, production is up by 26% from last year as trees, primarily in Western Australia and Queensland, mature. The resulting abundance – 22 avocados are forecast to be grown for every Australian this year – has led to a drop in prices to $1 each at the supermarket and farmers are appealing to consumers to increase their avo intake.
Undoubtedly the most popular of all avocado dishes – and now part of the fabric and lore of Australian cuisine – is the smashed avocado. There are all kinds of variations (here is a version from Anna Jones), personalisations and opinions when it comes to avocado on toast but, in its purest form, it’s simply lightly crushed avocado seasoned with lemon, salt and pepper, then roughly piled on to a piece of thick-cut toast.
There was, of course, a time before smashing, when it was just “avocado” and was served on sandwiches. Maggie Beer’s “chook and avocado” serves up poached chicken on delicate white bread fingers, perfectly sized for afternoon tea.
Guacamole, originating from the central states of Mexico (the “mole” means sauce) is made from mashed ripe avocados, tomatoes, onions, coriander and green chilli, but google it and you’ll tumble down a seemingly bottomless pit of recipes.
Jack White, the frontman of the White Stripes, is apparently both a guacamole purist and a perfectionist, as evidenced by the inclusion of a very specific recipe in his backstage rider.
Nick Fitzgerald keeps his guacamole traditional, too, adding extra flavour by topping it with green salsa macha, a spicy oil originating in Veracruz and made from dried chillies, garlic, nuts and spices. It’s ideal, he says, for dipping tostadas, tortilla chips or chicharron – deep-fried pork crackling.
Casually crossing cultures, Yotam Ottolenghi infuses his guac with wasabi, an unusual addition, but a superb colour-matched heat swap for chilli. Jackie Middleton travels a similar geographical distance with her recipe for fish tacos with guacamole, featuring fish sauce and sumac.
Prawns are the protein of choice for Adrian Richardson’s tacos. His avocado and chilli salsa makes only a brief departure from Mexico to add a pinch of sesame seeds. Ottolenghi favours prawns too, in his playful homage to the retro classic avocado and prawns, spicing it up and serving it with a curried yoghurt in place of typical Marie Rose-type sauce.
Crab is a winsome partner for avocado too, and the availability of pre-picked sweet crabmeat makes a recipe like Warren Mendes’ crab and avocado dome an impressive return for investment.
This simple omelette from the Sydney Seafood School also features crab, served with an avocado salsa with the unusual addition of tarragon.
To serve up Italian-style sausages, Nigel Slater swaps potato for a lighter, spicier feta and avocado mash, suggesting exchanging the sausages for chorizo if you’re keen to turn up the heat. In another recipe he eschews meat for halloumi, breaded and deep-fried to golden, served with silky avocado blended, rather than mashed, with basil and olive oil for extra creaminess.
Unlikely sounding but vividly attractive, is Jamie Oliver’s avocado pastry quiche, another vegetarian-friendly recipe, which uses avocado to replace butter or oil in the dough, and adds a filling of puréed peas and cheese.
Cooked avocado has always been divisive. This baked recipe confidently fills halved avocados with quinoa, corn, feta, walnuts and cherry tomatoes before baking. Jones also roast avocados. After tossing them in lime and chilli, she coats them in breadcrumbs and serves them with slaw and charred salsa for build-your-own tortillas. And avocado chips, anyone? They’re baked not fried in this Spruce Eats recipe.
Virtue-signalling is the popular green smoothie, with avocado adding a deceptive creaminess. And, as the name in this “spinach smuggler” suggests, its flavour can also cover up less-palatable ingredients.
Sweets are another unexpected course the avocado has taken over the past decade, driven by vegans craving creaminess. This sleight of hand can fool even perennially suspicious offspring. A mousse recipe by Claire Ptak is particularly pleasing as it requires just two steps: blend everything in a food processor then chill in the fridge.
Doubling down on the key ingredient is Australian Avocados recipe for chocolate avocado brownie with avocado ice-cream.
Meera Sodha adds matcha (green tea powder) to her avocado ice-cream and makes it dairy-free by sweetening it with condensed coconut milk.
The avocado has even taken on the drinks cabinet, most notably in the form of a margarita pioneered by the Austin restaurant Curras more than 20 years ago. Just sip it slowly – or risk becoming an entirely different kind of smashed.
