My mum is always amused to hear that I often breakfast on wholemeal bread fried in olive oil and a little garlic and perhaps some herbs. 

What she finds funny is that is merely a “sophisticated” — i.e. foreign and perhaps a tad less life-threatening — version of one of my childhood favourites. This delectable dish rejoiced in the name “dip butties” and consisted of slices of white bread dipped in melted bacon fat or dripping. 

This recipe is similar in that it’s merely cheese on toast and “a bit of salad” — in reality invariably a couple of lettuce leaves and half a tomato — that has got ideas above its station. 

It’s also a way of using up pears, of which we currently have a glut so enormous we’re thinking of asking the EU if it will pay us to dump them in a landfill. 

For this reason I last made with pears only but the avocados give a pleasant dimension and stop it from being too sweet.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe (not squashy) avocados, peeled, stones removed, cut in half 
• 2 firm sweet pears, peeled, quartered and cored
• Small lettuce, half a lettuce, or a good handful of mixed salad greens
• 4 large slices wholemeal bread
• Camembert, or similar soft round cheese, sliced across into 4 
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or grated
• freshly ground black pepper

What to do

Using the camembert or the box it came in as a guide, cut your slices of bread into rounds just big enough to fit the slices of cheese. 

Cut the remaining bread into small pieces and fry these rapidly in 1tbsp of the oil, then leave them to drain on absorbent paper. 

Toast the bread rounds on both sides. Slice the avocado halves and sprinkle with half the lemon juice.  

Slice the pear quarters. Put the greens in a bowl. Mix the remaining oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic and seasoning and stir vigorously before pouring over the greens and tossing well with the fried bread. 

Place a slice of camembert on each piece of toast and grill until just starting to melt. 

If you have a big enough plate, cover it in the green salad and then the two-pear mixture and let people help themselves. If not, divide it between several smaller plates. 

The quantities here will feed  four.