Guinea-Bissau Tuna with Avocado: Abacate com Atum

Guinea-Bissau is a country in western Africa. It is ia former colony of Portugal, and indeed, Portuguese is the national language, although there are numerous African languages spoken on a daily basis, as are less formal forms of Portuguese. Guinea-Bissau formally became independent from Portuguese rule in 1974.  

 

Just a reminder: when you use avocados in recipes, you need lemon or lime juice, or vinegar, to keep the avocado from turning dark due to contact with oxygen. So be sure to include the lemon juice in this recipe. Portuguese "Abacate com Atum" simple means "Avocado with Tuna." 

Ingredients:

 

2 soft, but not mushy, avocados, halved and pitted

1 cooked piece of tuna, about 5 ounces (or use canned tuna, drained)

2 medium roma tomatoes, chopped

2/3 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 

2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot sauce (piri piri, if you have it, also called pili pili in many African cultures)

2 tablespoons grated coconut 

4 lemon slices for garnish

I cooked the tuna in a skillet with a little olive oil and just a small amount of salt and pepper (not counted in the amout of salt and pepper in the above recipe). Make sure the tuna is cooked through and then let it cool. Halve and pit the avocados, then carefully (don't damage the shells) scoop out the avocado flesh, chop it, and put it into a bowl (keep the shells). Add the tuna, chopped tomato, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, lemon peel, heavy cream, hot sauce, then mix everything together very well. Fill each avocado shell with the tuna mixture and sprinkle each with some grated coconut. Serve with lemon slices and maybe make the hot sauce available for those who like extra. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Utensil-This word is closely related to "use," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via Latin-based French. The ultimate origin of this word, and of its close relative "use," is unknown. It goes back to Latin "uti," which had a wide range of meanings: "to make use of, to gain from (thus also, to benefit, to profit), to enjoy, to consume." This produced Latin "usare," meaning, "to use." The verb's present participle was "utens," and with its inflected ending came the adjective form "utensilis," meaning "useful, having gainful or beneficial purpose, usable," the plural form of which was "utensilia," which was used as a noun meaning, "things for use, useful implements," and this passed into Latin-based Old French as the singular "utensile," meaning "implement, tool" (perhaps influenced heavily by Italian "utensile?") and English borrowed the word in the late 1300s as "utensile/utensyl," which then became "utensil." The meaning more and more was used for household tools and implements; thus, there came to be a great association with implements in a kitchen, but not exclusively so.