Roast Avocado Tacos with Charred Tomato Salsa

RECIPE

Serves 4

Note from the cookbook

Tacos are summer food. I spend every trip to see my sister in LA seeking out the best California has to offer; that means a lot of tacos. These avocado tacos are, if you like, a greatest hits of all the things I have loved about tacos in LA: charred corn tortillas, a smoky chilli-spiked salsa, pick jalapeños and some polenta-crusted avocado. It might seem a little out of the ordinary to cook avocados but it brings out a totally difference character in them, still grassy and buttery but crisp on the outside – do give it a try. These tacos take me back to the palo-santo-scented boutiques and the brightly painted stairs that leas up to me sister's house  on the hill. If you get your hands on tomatillos at the better, they make a great salsa; if not, vine tomatoes will do just fine. I encourage you to seek out corn tortillas made from 100 per cent corn masa (dough). They have a totally different texture and flavour from the softer corn and wheat tortillas we are used to in the UK.

Ingredients

For the roast avocado

• 4 just-ripe avocados, stoned, quartered

• Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lime

• 1 green chilli, chopped

• 50 g fine polenta (or a handful of wholemeal breadcrumbs or oats)

• 1/2 teaspoon hot smoked paprika

• 25g hard cheese (Manchego or pecorino work well), grated

• A pinch of dried chipotle or chilli flakes

• Olive oil

For the pickled chillies

150 ml cider vinegar

2 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon coriander seeds, bashed in a pestle and mortar

2 tablespoons agave nectar

1 tablespoon flaky sea salt

6 jalapeños or other green chillies

For the charred salsa

• 4 ripe vine tomatoes or tomatillos (unripe green tomatoes)

• 4 spring onions

• 2 red chillies

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

• Lime juice (optional)

• Agave syrup or runny honey (optional)

To assemble

• 12 small corn tortillas
  1 spring cabbage, shredded

• a handful of coriander, roughly chopped

• 100 g Manchego or feta cheese, crumbled

• Limes to serve

Instructions

Preheat you oven to 200°C.180*C fan/gas 6

Cut the avocados in half and take out the stone. Cut them in half again lengthwise and remove the skins. Put them into a bowl and sprinkle with the lime zest, juice and chilli. Toss well to coat. In a separate bowl, mix the polenta with the smoked paprika, cheese, chipotle and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.

Put the polenta mix on to a plate and roll the avocados in it, then transfer to a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 25 minutes. Alternatively, shallow-fry them in a good bit of olive oil.

While the avocados are baking, make the pickled chillies. Place the cider vinegar in a saucepan with 150 ml water. Bash the garlic cloves and place them in a pan with the coriander seeds, agave and salt. Bring to boil. Slice the chillies into rounds 0.5 cm thick, leaving the seeds in. When the liquid has boiled, stir in the chillies and remove the pan from the heat. Leave to sit for at least 15 minutes. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge covered in the liquid for up to 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, make the salsa. Put a griddle on high heat. Once hot, char the tomatoes, spring onions and chillies on the griddle until soft and blackened all over, turning with tongs every 30 seconds or so. Once the whole lot looks good, cut off the chilli stalks and spring onion roots and transfer the charred veg to a blender with the garlic, the red wine vinegar and a generous pinch of salt and blitz until you have a punchy salsa. Taste and check it is nicely balanced: add more vinegar, lime or a little agave nectar or honey if it needs sweetness (depending on the sweetness and ripeness of your tomatoes). Put the salsa into a big bowl.

Drain the chillies. Warm the tortillas in a dry frying pan on a medium heat or over an open flame, turning them with tongs. Once they are warm and a little charred around the edges, pile them on to a plate. Put them in the middle of the table with the avocado, salsa, cabbage, pickled chillies, coriander, cheese, and limes for squeezing over, and left everyone make up their own tacos.