We love our seafood salads and cocktails in Mexico – from tart ceviches of raw fish to rich, elaborate concoctions. All are packed with zingy flavours and the freshest fruits of the sea – a far cry from the insipid prawn cocktail that disgraced British tables for so many years. You can use almost any cooked seafood for the recipe below, and should serve it with a fresh margarita on the rocks – just close your eyes, you will find yourself in Acapulco!

Serves 2

• Half a jar of ‘Sabores Aztecas' Pico de Gallo
• 200g cooked peeled tiger prawn tails*
• 20 large mussels, cooked and picked from their shells (or 1 tin cooked mussels)
• 100g cooked octopus (or 1 tin cooked octopus), sliced in thin discs
• 2 limes' juice, plus an extra squeeze for the avocado
• 1/2 lime's zest
• 1 small ripe hass avocado, halved and peeled**
• 1 small bunch coriander, chopped
• Sea salt and black pepper

First make a dressing of the pico de gallo, lime juice and zest, and season it to taste with salt and pepper. Slice each half of avocado, almost all the way through, and arrange it in a fan on a plate. Sprinkle with a squeeze of lime and some salt. Toss the prawns, mussels and octopus together with the dressing and pile the seafood next to the avocado. Sprinkle with coriander and enjoy

*cooking your own prawns will greatly improve the dish. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add a halved lemon and a stick of celery for flavour. Have ready 250g peeled tiger prawn tails, which have been de-veined. Add to the water and simmer for only 3 minutes, until just cooked through. Drain and spread out on a plate to chill quickly in the fridge.

**to peel an avocado, cut around the stone (lengthways) with a sharp knife. Twist and the two halves will come apart, leaving the stone in one half. To remove it, impale it with a sharp knife (watch your hands), and twist the stone out. To peel the avocado, slip a serving spoon between the flesh and the skin.