Grilled Avocado & Tomato Salad with Pesto

  • Great for a crowd or an intimate dinner. We grill the avocados on our Foreman grill, making it a year-round favorite (and a hit at dinner parties.)

    2-4 tablespoons lemon juice
    2 large, firm, ripe avocados
    1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
    coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
    1 pound tomatoes
    3 tablespoons olive oil
    4 teaspoons basil pesto
    Parmesan cheese
    leaf lettuce

    Wash lettuce, tear into bite-size pieces. Set aside.

    Heat grill. Place enough lemon juice in a non-reactive bowl to cover avocado halves. Halve, pit, and peel avocados. Toss avocado with lemon juice; add onion, salt, pepper to bowl.

    Remove avocados, season all sides with salt and pepper. Place on grill, drizzle with olive oil. Grill, cut side down, until edges start to brown, about 2 minutes. Turn to rounded side, grill additional 2 minutes. Avocados should be just softened, but not cut through.

    Remove to lemon juice, spoon juice over avocado to cool. Slice avocados thinly when cool.

    Cut tomatoes into wedges. Toss with lettuce. Place lettuce/tomato mix on plates. Top with avocado slices and onion. Drizzle with lemon juice. Spoon pesto over salad and dust with Parmesan cheese.

    Enjoy!

    Note from Ruth: Avocados are counted as fat servings. 1/3 is equals one Tablespoon of oil. This whole recipe has 9 Tablespoons of oil - 1074 calories for the oil. So eat sparingly.

    Serves 6?