Palta Rellena - Stuffed Avocado

Avocados are so creamy, full of flavor and are the perfect date for Tuna Salad or even Chicken Salad. It's very common to see avocados get incorporated to several dishes too. Today, we're going to take on one of the most typical appetizer dishes (entrada) served around a Chilean table... "Palta Rellena"


Ingredients:
(Serves 6)

- For the green salad

1 small green leaf lettuce (you can choose either kind you like)
Fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Olive oil

- For the Stuffed Avocados:

3 medium avocados (ripe, but not too soft to the touch)
1 small sweet onion, finely diced
1 Tbspn. fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (If you don't like cilantro you can substitute it by flat leaf parsley)
2 cans Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in water (5 oz.)
3 Tbspn. mayo
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Lemon Juice of one small lemon


Directions:

Wash and slice the lettuce. Drain well and transfer to a salad bowl. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of one lemon. Toss to combine and set aside.

Open the cans of tuna, drain and rinse under fresh water (use a fine mesh). Drain again and toss it into a small bowl. Add the chopped onion (you can use shallots if you like it better) and cilantro leaves. Add the lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the mayo and toss until well combined. Set aside.

Peel the avocados, cut in half and remove the seed. Season the inside with salt and drizzle a little bit of lemon juice. Set aside.

To assemble, lay some lettuce to cover the bottom of a plate. Set an avocado half on top and fill the cavity with lots of tuna salad. Add a little dollop of mayo on top and decorate with a cilantro leaf. You can splash some tabasco sauce on top, if desired.

You can also garnish the avocados with red bell pepper strips or olive slices. Enjoy!

(*) If you want to have this as a lunch plate, you can serve a whole avocado instead of a half.