Sunday, September 21, 2014

Avocado and Citrus Salad with Green Olives

The combination on grapefruit, avocado, and olives seemed like an odd choice, but I had faith and my faith was rewarded with a refreshing side salad. It was a little surprising how well the avocados and olives fit into everything. The full recipe below makes a lot of salad. Goin says you should aim for about 1/2 cup of citrus per person. For us, 1 grapefruit and 1 orange seemed the right amount for two people with about 1/2 of an avocado and other pieces scaled haphazardly. The original also calls for a mix of watercress and frisee, but I needed baby spinach for something else, so I decided to just keep things simple. I think it's fair to say this could work with any tender greens of your choice.

Two years ago: Bulgur Salad with Apricot, Radicchio, and Parsley
Three years ago: Dan Dan Noodles
Four years ago: Bolognese Meat Sauce

Avocado and Citrus Salad with Green Olives (adapted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques)

Ingredients
4 lbs mixed citrus fruit (grapefruit, oranges, clementines, tangerines, etc.)
2 tbsp finely chopped shallot
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe avocados
1/2 cup pitted green olives
1 bunch watercress, cleaned and tough stems removed
1 bunch frisee, cleaned

1. Zest citrus to get 1 tsp of zest.
2. Cut stem and blossom ends from fruit. Peel fruit and slice into segments, discarding seeds. Retain juice if possible. If not, that's okay too.
3. Combine shallots, 1/4 cup citrus juice from slicing (or just increase other acidic components), vinegar, lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp salt in small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Whisk in olive oil and zest to shallot mixture.
5. Place citrus segments and olives in a large bowl. Spoon 3/4 of vinaigrette over top and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt. Toss in watercress and frisee [or other greens of your choice].
6. For plating, you can plate on a platter gently adding in the avocado slices in between a salad sandwich or you can just gently fold the avocado into your salad bowl and serve as I did.

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