Wildstar's Recipes: Grandma Luisa's Guacamole, Greek Potatoes & Coq au Vin

Three More Delicious Holiday Recipes from Ryan Wildstar

It's that time of the year again! Two weeks ago, I published Three Delicious Holiday Recipes from Wildstar. And this week, as the holidays rapidly descend upon us, I’m back to do it again!

Three Delicious Holiday Recipes from Ryan Wildstar

Below are three more of my favorite crowd-pleasing holiday standbys, which I cook all year round but especially enjoy cooking around the holidays. I've chosen my versions of my Grandma Luisa’s Guacamole, vegetarian Greek Potatoes, and my signature version of the classic, hearty French dish — Coq au Vin.

So whatever you're celebrating this holiday season, be it Solstice, Hanukkah, New Year's Eve, Spring Festival or Quentin Crisp's birthday . . . here are three more of my favorite holiday recipes!

---

---

Grandma Luisa’s Guacamole:

Grandma Luisa’s Guacamole [Photo by Ryan Wildstar]

When I was 16, I moved to Los Angeles to go to college and live with my Dad in East LA. At the time, he was an elementary school teacher at Miramonte Elementary, where he met, fell in love with, and married Kathy. A fiercely proud Mexican-American woman, Kathy was a bilingual special education teacher at the same school. She was also one of the most loving, amazing, generous, brilliant women I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. To my great fortune, I inherited a second family and a whole new education in Chicana culture. Kathy became my new step-mom (even though I was already an adult) and I got four step-brothers as well as an amazing new grandma — Kathy’s mother, Luisa. They adopted me immediately and Kathy started calling herself my “Mexi-Mama” and I became Luisa’s mijo, just like all her other boys. Both Luisa and Kathy were phenomenal cooks, and sitting down to a meal at my Dad and Kathy’s house was always a transformative, life-changing event, especially around the holidays. My Mexi-Mama and Grandma Luisa both taught me how to make many of their incredible traditional Mexican dishes, and this is the inimitable guacamole that Grandma Luisa taught me how to make (with some of my own touches that I’ve added over the years).

In loving memory of Luisa, Kathy and my Dad.

Luisa and Kathy

My Dad and Kathy

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• 2 large, very ripe Haas or Maluma avocados

• 1 medium red or yellow onion, diced finely

• 1 ripe tomato, chopped finely

• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon hot chili powder or Tabasco

• 1 teaspoon mild paprika

• Juice from 1/2 a lime or lemon

• 2 heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise (Best Foods/Hellmann’s preferred, but never sweet mayonnaise under any circumstances)

• Chopped cilantro (as garnish)

Here’s What to Do:

In a large metal or ceramic bowl, add your avocados, keeping one of the pits behind for garnish later. Mash your avocados with a fork until they are of a creamy consistency. Then add your diced onion and chopped tomato, mayonnaise and lemon or lime. Stir until well mixed. Then add all of your spices, stir well and refrigerate, with the pit, for at least two hours (overnight is even better). Serve chilled with the avocado pit in the center and freshly chopped cilantro as a garnish.

Grandma Luisa’s Guacamole is a perfect vegetarian dip for any holiday party or special occasion!

---

Ryan Wildstar’s Greek Potatoes:

I learned how to make this dish from my first partner Erik’s mother back in the 90s. She was Swedish but married to a Greek man and this was her version of Greek potatoes, which was a staple at their house and has since become one of my signature dishes.

Ryan Wildstar’s Greek Potatoes [Photo by Ryan Wildstar]

Here’s What You’ll Need: