Upgraded pan con palta (bread with avocado) – For a unique Christmas celebration

Being a vegetarian, and not considering myself a huge fan of Paneton, has made my Christmas holidays in Peru anything but traditional.  The usual celebration that revolves around the turkey has always found me going for second and third servings of all the side dishes, and having more space than everyone else for dessert (I’m not complaining about that!).

Not being able to enjoy traditions in their full expression is no problem for me however, as I prefer to create my own traditions, and express more of who I am and what I like, and not so much what others tell me I should do.

One of these new traditions of mine is, for example, to create my own Christmas tree. Since I feel sorry for real trees and there’s no way I would buy one for decoration, last year I painted my tree on recycled supermarket paper bags put together with tape and glue. The result was certainly nothing to be hung in a museum, but it was fun, and it was me.

Another tradition I would like to incorporate into my Christmas celebration, now that I live away from my country again, is to include Peruvian food in the holiday menu, one way or the other.

For this reason, and inspired by a twitter party we hosted last night with Avocados from Mexico (#ILoveAvocados #latism), I decided to make an upgraded version of the exquisitely simple pan con palta (bread with avocado) that Peruvians enjoy for breakfast on an almost daily basis. Who needs complicated when you can have easy and delicious?

The usual pan con palta is just mashed avocado and salt inside a French bun (never underestimate the delights of simple pleasures!). For my upgraded pan con palta I toasted some slices of organic, sprouted, yeast-free, multigrain bread (sounds like alien bread but it’s actually very tasty, with the perfect combination of crunchy on the outside and sweet and creamy on the inside going on). I mashed the avocado, which, as I said,  is the way we Peruvians prefer to eat it, and added sun dried tomatoes, black olives, baby artichokes, pink salt, pepper, caraway seeds, and basil leaves. A squeeze of lemon juice and a dash of olive oil…and I’m ready to treat my friends and family to a unique and very personal Christmas appetizer. Make them smaller, and you also have some fantastic hors d’oeuvres for any occasion.

For more great Holiday avocado recipes you can visit Avocado from Mexico’s Posadas Page, filled with creative recipes by the one and only Chef Pepin.

*This post has been sponsored in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Avocados from Mexico, but all stories and opinions are our own.