Long Weekend Entertaining with Bountiful Seasonal Avocados

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With a slew of 4-day weeks up ahead and lots of holidays on the cards, there’s no better time to be flexing your culinary muscles and giving your regular dishes a bit of an makeover. As luck would have it, this coincides directly with the start of avo season… kismet? We think so. We have an abundance of local avocados available to us that are beautifully ripe and ready to go, so to get your creative juices flowing, we’ve created four recipes that hero avocado and that are just perfect for long weekend entertaining and fun family gatherings.

Lazy Long Weekend Entertaining with Avocados on the Menu

Whether you choose green-skinned avos, which remain green when ripe, or the dark-skinned ones, which turn a magnificent purple-black to show they are ready to eat, avocados are a brilliant part of any healthy eating lifestyle. These recipes well work equally well with any variety, so choose your favourite.

Green Eggs & Ham: Devilled Avocado Eggs with Crispy Parma Ham Shards

First let’s talk entertaining. It’s Easter soon and of course, that means eggs. Sure, these may not be the chocolate kind but actually they’re way more nutritious and tummy filling.

Devilled eggs graced the table at every 70s party spread. Why? Because they’re devilishly good! We upgrade this recipe from classic to contemporary with the addition of avocado. The avo adds a pretty green hue to the egg mayo mix, as well as great flavour and extra creaminess. Adding the avo also gives you more filling to work with, so pipe those hollowed out egg whites chock full. We’ve also added shards of crispy-fried parma ham, this elevates the eggs from buffet classic to stylish canapé.

The good-for-you fats in avocados may help keep bellies full and satisfied – perhaps the best news for helping kids (and adults) control the chocolate munchies after a family Easter egg hunt.

Get the recipe for these Green Eggs & Ham Devilled Eggs

Avocado Creme Potato Salad with Crispy Bacon & Fried Onions

Everyone loves potato salad – it’s a South African braai staple and if you don’t have memories of your potato slaai turning pink from the beetroot juice on your paper plate, then have you even lived?

Pink is so 1985; this new-look potato salad has a subtle green tone from the addition of avocado blitzed into the mayo-crème fraîche dressing. To zhush it up even more, we’ve added chunks of avocado, as well as crispy onions and bacon bits.

Fortunately, there’s no shortage of avos in South Africa – both green and dark-skinned avos are available here almost all year round, and are equally versatile, delicious and nutritious!

Get the recipe for this Avocado Creme Potato Salad with Crispy Bacon & Fried Onions

Chocolate Avocado Mousse Tartlets

When you think sophisticated dessert, avocados are probably not your go-to but we’re here to let you in on a secret – they make the most amazing choc mousse! Once blitzed with cocoa powder and with a few extra tweaks, your avocados transform into a silky, luxurious mousse that will rival any other.

We can eat it out of the bowl just as is, but that probably won’t be appropriate when entertaining guests. To make it into a really special dessert, we’ve baked chocolate cookie shells and then filled them with swirls of mousse. You can top with anything that takes your fancy – fruits, nut brittle, smashed malted puffs, a swirl of caramel, perhaps even some mini Easter speckled eggs. The options are really limitless.

The buttery, creamy green-skinned avo varieties Fuerte, Edranol, Ryan, Reed and Pinkerton are available from March until October, and the rich, nutty dark-skinned Hass, Maluma Hass and Lamb Hass from March until November.

Get the recipe for these Chocolate Avocado Mousse Tartlets

Low Carb Crispy Aubergine Breakfast Stack with Smashed Avo & Poached Egg

If you’re away for the weekend or have family staying over, then we’ve got long weekend breakfast covered. Perhaps you’ve indulged in basket of treats delivered by the bunny and want something lighter and low carb for breakfast or brunch? This stunning golden stack is it.

We’ve used coconut flour to dredge slices of aubergine and have shallow fried ’til golden. We’ve stacked and then topped with a generous dollop of smashed avo, a few ribbons of smoked salmon and then a perfectly poached egg. This is a wake up call that everyone will want! Keto, banters, low carbers and everyone in-between will be thrilled with this sensational stack.