Baked Avocados with Salsa

Here’s a recipe that leaves some room for interpretation. Basically, you halve and pit an avocado (or two), fill it with salsa, top it with breadcrumbs and bake it. But the salsa you use can be homemade or jarred, or it can be just plain chopped tomato. You can use olives or bell peppers if you wish. You can omit the breadcrumbs and/or parmesan. The recipe below makes 2 servings as a side; what I did was make more salsa and save it for a second avocado the next day.

1 ripe avocado
¼ cup bread crumbs (gluten-free if you wish)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese (optional, but really good)
1 Tbsp. basil, chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
½ cup tomato salsa (such as this one)

Preheat oven to 450 °F.

In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, garlic, cheese, basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper; set aside.

Cut the avocado in half and remove pit. Divide the salsa between the two avocado halves. Top with bread crumb mixture. Place on a small baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.