Often when we travel we’ll zero in on one thing that we love to eat during a trip. Sometimes I’ll incorporate it into my home cooking, sometimes I don’t. By far the one thing we ate on our travels that we make most at home is garlic bread with smashed avocado on top. We had it at a beach resort in Costa Rica many years ago. It’s not particularly Costa Rican, and I think it’s just something someone at the resort restaurant thought up and decided to offer on the menu. It’s really delicious. I use my own bread and we spread garlic butter on top and toast it. Then we smash up an avocado with some salt and spread it on top.

Tonight I smoked the avocado first, then we smashed it up with salt. It added a subtle hickory smokiness to the snack, and we really liked it. And it takes hardly any extra time at all.

• European Peasant Loaf with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49) and Hickory-Smoked Avocado