Barbecued avocado with herb labneh salad

Ingredients

• 4 firm but ripe avocados
• 200 g labneh
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup dill
• ¼ cup basil
• ¼ cup coriander leaves and a little soft stem from the top leaves
• ¼ cup mint
• salt flakes
• freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

Prepare your barbecue for direct cooking over a high heat. Make sure it’s free of any dirt — you don’t want to be chewing grit!

Cut all your avocados in half and remove the stones. Leaving the skin on, cut the halves into halves again if using smaller avocados, or into thirds if using larger ones. Set aside.

Place the labneh in a bowl. Add half the lemon juice and half the olive oil and beat to loosen the cheese. The mixture does not need to be completely combined.

Roughly chop the herbs and mix half into the cheese. Reserve the rest to sprinkle over at the end.

Barbecue the avocado pieces with the skin still on, laying them cut side down so they are flush with the grill surface. Once charred, turn them over gently and cook the other side. Remove from the barbecue to a serving board or platter. Remove the skin from the charred avocado.

Dollop the labneh mixture all over the avocado, then sprinkle with the remaining herbs. Combine the remaining olive oil and lemon juice and dress the salad liberally. Season with salt flakes and pepper. This is best served straight away.

Recipe and image from Ben’s BBQ Bible, Ben O’Donoghue (Hardie Grant Books, $39.95, pbk).