Grilled Pepper Caprese

One time I made it with orange slices too.  I like it better without.

I used to love caprese salad with layers of perfectly ripe tomatoes and mozzerela cheese.  Last night I was thinking about caprese as I made dinner, and I kept coming back to my perfectly ripe avocados.  The avocado has such a rich and fatty flavor, and I realized it's not unlike cheese in many ways.  I recently made a pizza with a layer of thinly sliced avocado as a base and it was amazing.  So, I just needed my pairing.  If I had some fresh herbs, tomato would have been great, but I didn't.  What I did have was a bag of sweet mini peppers in yellow, orange and red.  I sliced the peppers along one end and spread them out flat then tossed them with salt, pepper and olive oil.  Then, I placed them on a foil covered sheet pan in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes, flipping them over half way.  They would have been great on the grill too, but I didn't want to fight the fire.

I layerd the peppers hot out of the oven with the cool thinly sliced avocado (three slices fanned in between each pepper) and let the avocado cool the peppers and the peppers slightly warm the avocado.  It was the perfect starter with the sweetness of the pepper fully released in the cooking and the decadence of the avocado balancing it perfectly.