Avocado Boats (Aguacates Rellenos de Verdura)

filled with avocado, tomato, peas and panela

For Sunday dinner, our niece, Chelsea, and I tried out 4 recipes from the new Mexico cookbook by Margarita Carrillo Arronte while Tom made a grilled flank steak, using a recipe from David Liebovitz.

This one was voted the best recipe and one that we would most likely make again.  The filling is excellent.

The boats aren't really necessary but they are very pretty and would be nice for a dinner party. Chelsea gets the credit for creating the boats and filling them so nicely.

The recipe calls for panela, which I found in the cheese section, but mild feta can be substituted.

Avocado Boats
Aguacates Rellenos de Verdura
(from the Mexico cookbook by Margarita Carrillo Arronte)

Serves 4

4 ripe avocados
juice of 1 lemon (I used lime)
3.5 ounces panela or mild feta, diced
1/3 cup green peas, barely cooked (I used frozen petite peas)
1 tomato, peeled seeded and chopped (I used 8 small cherry tomatoes, chopped)
salt and pepper

optional:  cilantro as garnish

Note from B:  When you pick out your avocados, be sure to select ones that aren't overly ripe so they will stand up as a boat when you carve them out.

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the pit.  Scoop out most of the flesh from the avocado halves, leaving a 1/2 inch layer of the shell.  Carefully peel off the skins from the avocados, and sprinkle with the lemon (or lime as we did) juice and salt.

Combine the avocado flesh, cheese, peas, tomato in a bowl (and squeeze lime juice on it) and season with salt.  Fill the avocados with the mixture.

Place on platter and serve immediately.

We garnished ours with cilantro.  And served the extra filling at the table to add to our flank steak tacos.

B