Avocado halves stuffed with salted cheese and tomatoes

When we did this, we were very much Italian-inspired in our choice of herbs and tastes combination. The garlic, tomatoes, basil and olive oil are a classic match and the cheese and avocado only enrich  it. You'll taste a bit of the Mediterranean kitchen with this wonderful-looking and light starter. Also you'll get a good share of unsaturated fats, potassium and magnesium (avocados have even more of those than bananas). Ready in 10 minutes.

Ingredients (serves 4 as starter, 2 as a light brunch): 

• 2 ripe avocados

• 100 g of salted soft cheese (like feta, although ours was a lighter version, around 45% fat)

• 4 mini-tomatoes (not cherry, look for a type called "aromatic" if you can) - about 50 g

• 1 garlic clove

• 1/2 spoon of olive oil

• a pinch of salt

• a dash of freshly ground pepper

• a sprinkle of basil

• half a lemon

Have your ingredients nearby. Peel the garlic clove and unwrap (or slice from the main package) the cheese.

Cut the cheese into small bits:

Sprinkle the basil on the cheese and crush or very, very finely cut the garlic clove. Proceed to cut the avocados in half, length-wise:

Toss the kernels. Using a fork, smash them a bit around the inner edge, like this:

Squeeze the lemon half over the avocado halves trying to pour equal amounts of juice in each. Add the pinch of salt all over, then the crushed garlic (again, evenly distributed). Cut the tomatoes into little pieces and grind the pepper over them. Distribute the olive oil, one-two drops into each avocado half.:

Stuff the cheese and tomatoes into the avocado halves, alternating between them to create mixed layers. When the ingredients stop fitting, just put them on top of the avocado halves. What's left even after that will be used for decorating (and end up being eaten nonetheless) ;). 

If you can, try squeezing what's left of that lemon half again on them after you're done stuffing.  Eat them with a fork digging the content right out of the avocado skins. It's ready, dig in! (now or later, after you refrigerate for a couple of hours, still good).