A grilled avocado stuffed with chilled smoked seafood salad.
For your next dinner party try this simple idea for making hand-held appetizers that don’t require any plates! Present your guests with a platter of grilled avocado halves and a selection of salsas and other tasty stuffings!
Simple to prepare and simple to eat!
Halve the avocados as you would normally and remove the pit. Spritz the avocado flesh with canola or other high-smoke point vegetable oil and place on Medium-to-HIGH clean, dry grates of your grill. “where they hit they sit!” Don’t move the avocados around once they hit the grates, but do keep an eye on the edges of the avocado for signs the flesh is searing – the skin will start to turn blacker ever-so-slightly at the edge resting on the hot grates. Use tongs to lift from the grates – if they stick a bit you can wait to ensure they are truly seared or you can use a well oiled spatula placed flat on the grates and quickly slip between the cooked avocado and grates. (Caution – this is tricky and not easy to get right!) Place the grilled avocado halves on the warming rack skin-side down or in a tray off of direct heat.
To serve place the grilled avocado haves on a plate accompanied by an assortment of different ingredients for fillings. (You can serve the halves or cut into quarters for lighter appetites.) Seafood mousse, chicken liver pate, caviar, chilled fruits, salsa, black beans or just a simple sea-salt with fresh ground black pepper and really good extra virgin olive oil! Guests will enjoy the nutty flavor of the cooked avocado and also get a kick by making their own concoctions! The novelty of carrying their appetizer this way is fun and makes for a simple clean-up – just toss the empty avocado skins into the compost bin! Welcome to the Cookout! ~ Barry CB Martin
For your next dinner party try this simple idea for making hand-held appetizers that don't require any plates! Present your guests with a platter of grilled avocado halves and a selection of salsas and other tasty stuffings!
Ingredients
- 1 avocado per person, allowing for two halves each
- suitable ingredients made ahead to use for stuffing: seafood salad, fresh bay shrimp, salsa, ceviche, black beans, etc.
Instructions
- Halve the avocados as you would normally and remove the pit. Spritz the avocado flesh with canola or other high-smoke point vegetable oil and place on Medium-to-HIGH clean, dry grates of your grill. "where they hit they sit!" Don't move the avocados around once they hit the grates, but do keep an eye on the edges of the avocado for signs the flesh is searing - the skin will start to turn blacker ever-so-slightly at the edge resting on the hot grates. Use tongs to lift from the grates - if they stick a bit you can wait to ensure they are truly seared or you can use a well oiled spatula placed flat on the grates and quickly slip between the cooked avocado and grates. (Caution - this is tricky and not easy to get right!) Place the grilled avocado halves on the warming rack skin-side down or in a tray off of direct heat.
- To serve place the grilled avocado haves on a plate accompanied by an assortment of different ingredients for fillings. (You can serve the halves or cut into quarters for lighter appetites.) Seafood mousse, chicken liver pate, caviar, chilled fruits, salsa, black beans or just a simple sea-salt with fresh ground black pepper and really good extra virgin olive oil! Guests will enjoy the nutty flavor of the cooked avocado and also get a kick by making their own concoctions! The novelty of carrying their appetizer this way is fun and makes for a simple clean-up - just toss the empty avocado skins into the compost bin!
Notes
This may take a couple tries to perfect, but once you get the hang of it - you'll be grilling avocados for just about every recipe in which you use them!
