Avocado Sandwiches with Lightly Salted Fish

We made these avocado sandwiches with the most readily available fruits in the store: with soft, creamy flesh and a dark, firm skin that peels off easily. One avocado was kept for laying on top of the sandwiches, and from the flesh of the second we made a very thick sauce, similar to guacamole but with different additions. You can buy a little sliced lightly salted red fish in the store, or use my recipe: how to salt trout.

Ready-made toast bread can be bought in any store. It makes tasty, crisp croutons. Use wheat or rye bread, as you like. If you have no toaster, an ordinary flat-bottomed skillet does the job perfectly. You can fry the bread in a little butter, but it is tastier and quicker to simply dry it on both sides until lightly browned and slightly crunchy.

Carefully cut one avocado down to the pit and split it into halves. Remove the firm skin; it separates easily from the flesh. Slice the flesh and put it in a bowl. Immediately add 1-2 tsp of lime juice and stir. The flesh darkens very quickly, and the acid prevents this.

Add a piece of finely chopped chili to the bowl, to taste, then add a little salt and pepper. You also need herbs: cilantro is usually used, but with green basil the sauce is tastier and the sandwiches more aromatic. Roughly chop the basil leaves with a knife and add them to the flesh. If you use cilantro, do exactly the same. Blend everything with a hand blender into a smooth paste of a pleasant green shade. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and blend once more. If you like, add a little more lime juice.

The sandwiches can be made large, using a whole slice of toast, or you can cut the bread in half to get twice as many. I like to use cream cheese with herbs in sandwiches like this; it adds extra flavor that goes very well with avocado. You can buy ready-made cream cheese, or mix Philadelphia with finely chopped herbs. Spread half of each piece of bread with cream cheese and the other half with the avocado sauce. Use a fairly large plate or platter for serving. It is worth putting a lettuce or romaine leaf under each piece of bread. Fold or roll a thinly cut slice of lightly salted red fish and place it at the edge of the bread so that it rests on both the cream cheese and the avocado sauce. I recommend boiling a few quail eggs and putting a half on each avocado sandwich.

Peel the second avocado exactly like the first. Cut the halves crosswise into slices 10-12 mm thick. A crinkle-cut knife looks pretty here. Lay the avocado slices on the sandwiches, pressing them lightly into the sauce and cheese so they do not fall apart.

Be sure to put a sprig of herbs on each sandwich, cilantro or a pair of basil leaves. You can add a pitted green olive if you like. By the way, if the fish is slightly too salty, you can add a little pepper or a few drops of lime juice to it, which will soften the salty taste.

Serve the snack right away; it does not need to be chilled. That way the flavors of the ingredients show at their best. Do not make the sandwiches ahead of time: it is not difficult, and assembling them takes only a few minutes.