Avocado and Tomato Bruschetta

Suitable for Vegetarians! Yay!

 Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 Slices Of Baguette Per Person
• 1 Large Avocado
• 1 Whole Chilli
• 2 Limes
• 3 Sundried Tomatoes 
• 100ml Olive Oil (plus a splash for the bread)
• 25ml White Wine Vinegar
• 1 tbsp Honey
• 335g Cherry Tomatoes
• 1 Red Onion
• 15g Fresh Mint
• Shavings Of Parmesan

 Equipment

• Baking Sheet

Oven Temperature

• 200c/400f/Gas 6

Method 

• Start off by preparing the tomato and onion salad. Cut the sweet little tomatoes into quarters, finely chop the red onion, and roughly chop all of the mint, and then combine them in a mixing bowl.

• In a jug, combine 100ml of olive oil with 25ml of white wine vinegar (cider vinegar would also work really nicely with this, so just use whichever you have got), the juice of a lime and about a tablespoon of honey (to taste). Whisk it all together so that the olive oil incorporates with the rest of the dressing and the honey doesn't settle at the bottom.
  Top Tip! Bekki showed me a neat little way to really get the most out of your limes - instead of just rolling them to burst all of those little capillaries, wrap the lime in a teatowel and bash the heck out of it against the work surface until it feels all squidgy and bruised. The juice just comes pouring out after that!

• Pour enough of the dressing over the salad that it is generously coated and then pop the rest away for your next salad - this is a dressing that keeps really well.

• Next, rub a little olive oil on both sides of the pieces of bread and pop them in the oven to go rich and golden brown.

• While they are baking away, finely chop the chilli (you can deseed it if you don't want it so hot) and the sundried tomatoes.

• Scoop the flesh from your avocado and put it in a bowl. Using either the back of a spoon or a potato masher, smush the avocado into a nice lumpy paste - don't totally obliterate it, you want to have some nice chunks in there for a bit of texture. 

• Mix the finely chopped chilli and sundried tomatoes in there and then squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Be relatively liberal with it as, not only does it add a really nice freshness to the avo, it also stops it going brown. Salt and pepper to taste.

• Time to assemble! Take the bread from the oven when it is golden brown and  smear a generous dollop of the avocado mix on top of each. Then pile the tomato and onion salad on top, ensuring that plenty of that lovely dressing is there to drip down and soak into the bread and mingle with the avocado.

• Finally, shave some parmesan over the top for a little bit of saltiness.
  Top tip! Beware, veggies - parmesan is not typically vegetarian! However, Sainsburys do a cheese called 'Italian Hard Cheese' in their basics range which does the same job as parmesan, but it's vegetarian! Score!

Verdict

Rich, golden bread, creamy avocado, and fresh, crisp salad all come together to give you a variety of textures and flavours. It's pretty quick and easy to make, and the tomato salad can always be made well in advance to give it time to get intimate with the dressing. Enjoy!