Nigel Slater’s avocado and smoked salmon tortilla recipe

The recipe

Halve, stone and peel 2 ripe avocados, put them in a mixing bowl then crush them roughly with a fork. Thinly slice a couple of spring onions and add them to the bowl. Finely shred 6 large mint leaves, and finely chop 1 small, hot red chilli then fold them into the avocado. Tear up a handful of coriander leaves, add to the avocado, squeeze over the juice of a lime and season with black pepper.

Toast 2 small tortillas on a hot griddle or frying pan, letting them brown in patches. Lay each warm tortilla on a plate, then divide the mashed avocado between them. Place folds of smoked salmon over the top, a little more coriander and mint, then a trickle of olive oil. Serve immediately. Makes 2.

The trick

Soft corn tortillas need only a few seconds warming in a hot pan. If you leave them on the pan too long they will toughen. Get a nonstick pan hot first, so they can brown in about 20 seconds – if you heat them slowly your tortillas will dry out. Turn and warm the other side then fill immediately. Should you need to keep them warm, pile them on top of one another and wrap in a clean tea towel to keep them soft and hot.

The twist

Fry rashers of bacon until really crisp then shatter them into small pieces and add to the avocado. Fold in finely diced tomatoes and cucumber, or cooked beetroot. In place of the smoked salmon I might be tempted to include some cold, rare roast beef, cut very thin, with a few shakes of chilli sauce. Or perhaps hot, roast pork fillet, cooked with thyme and lemon, thinly sliced, its roasting juices allowed to trickle down into the crushed avocado.

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