June is California Avocado Month, and the California Avocado Commission (CAC) celebrated by searching for Californians’ favorite California avocado recipes. Partnering with Modern Luxury, CAC hosted a recipe contest, asking California-based fans to submit their must-eat avocado dishes.

Finalist recipes were tested with El Cajon’s Mary Beth Porucznik winning the grand prize of $1,000 plus a $400 restaurant gift card and a California avocado prize pack. Porucznik’s California Avocado & Shrimp Pizza recipe was prepared by a Modern Luxury chef and professionally photographed to be featured on California Avocado’s website along with other finalist recipes.

“California Avocado Month is the perfect opportunity for home chefs to step up their recipes with delicious, fresh California avocados, which is why we hosted the California Avocado Recipe Contest,” says Jan DeLyser, CAC’s vice president of marketing. “It’s been exciting to see the enthusiasm from our fans with the variety of dishes shared and we hope to inspire consumers to create their own dish at home.”

Porucznik’s California Avocado & Shrimp Pizza includes grilled shrimp, pickled onions and jalapeños, ricotta cheese and creamy California avocados. The recipe can be found at CAC’s website.

Three runners-up also received prize packs: Deborah Kosareff from Whittier with a Pan Fried Street Corn & California Avocado recipe, Yoshiharu Sogi from Sonoma with a California Avocado Wellington dish and Nicole Ruiz Hudson from Oakland with Southwest Chicken & California Avocado Tartines. All recipes were evaluated based on several key elements, including overall taste, presentation and creativity.