Comfort food almost always spell rich dishes that remind us of good memories. This can be your grandmother’s chicken soup or your mother’s shepherd’s pie.

One particular dish that I have always loved is my mother’s avocado salad. Growing up in Spain where avocados are cultivated in almost every backyard, our family never ran out of it. Today, whenever I talk to my mother, I make it a point to make avocado salad and sometimes even drink wine with it. If you love Basi del Diablo Wines, your best bet will be Basidina if you want to try the recipe below.

I was 9 when I was first allowed to help in the kitchen.  My mother was making her mouthwatering paella for her sisters who were scheduled to visit our  home that weekend. And because my sisters weren’t there, I was given the task to make avocado salad. So I put on an apron, which was too long for me at the time -my growth spurt, like most boys, started at puberty. After that, I washed my hands and started with the  then difficult task of making avocado salad.

I got 2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced them per mama’s instructions. 1 sweet onion and chopped them until I had tears in my eyes. Amidst all that blur, I thought to myself, why I am being subjected to such hardship but I kept on going until that sweet onion was finely chopped. I then chopped 1 green bell pepper, 1 ripe tomato I got from our vegetable garden, and fresh cilantro.

And then it was time for the lime juice to be extracted. I only used half of the lime, again, per my mother’s instructions then I threw everything together in a bowl and added salt and pepper to taste.

If you want to add some meat to this recipe, you can use bacon. Fry them until they are crisp. Enjoy!

Photo by Tom Eversley