Once again, the elusive avocado threatened to defeat me today. Just one light squeeze and I could tell it was on the far side of ripe – and slicing the avocado open confirmed my suspicions. It was green, but starting to get those unpleasant stringy bits. I had no desire to eat the avocado as is, and yet, it didn’t seem totally useless. And besides, avocados are expensive. Waste not, right?

So I got this idea in my head to turn it into a salad dressing. I started with this cilantro avocado dressing on 101 Cookbooks, subbing lemon for lime, parsley for cilantro and tahini for yogurt. The result was pretty stellar, the perfect splooge for my baked falafel. I think I’ll try the rest with roasted pumpkin, or maybe these crispy cornmeal sweet potato fries.

I reckon this is a good starting point for all kinds of creamy vegan dressings. I’d like to try it with other fresh herbs – basil and chives come to mind. Some jalapeño wouldn’t go amiss, either.

Best of all, I have something I can do with my almost-off avocados. Which reminds me, Katy Salter wrote about her quest for the perfect avocado in the Guardian yesterday, which confirms some of my suspicions: The myth of the ripe and ready range.