Bargain priced avocados: a delight for nearly spring...
Avocado Salad: a template for colourful, healthy multi-textured mix of simple salad ingredients |
When food budgets are tight, we take our pleasures where we can.
Cut-price avocados, which seem to be in abundance in most supermarkets right now, is sure to be one of them.
A great source of culinary delight, large supermarket avocados can be had for about £1.50'ish -- half the price of a perfect green grocer specimen.
And they're are not just for guacamole or the ubiquitous sourdough toast with poached eggs. They're brilliant in smoothies, soups, pilaffs and vegetable sides.
Since 67 posted How to...the Art of Avocados and everything you need to know in March 2024, supermarkets have jumped on the bandwagon. Excellent avocadoes in various sizes and stages of ripness are everywhere.
It's just as easy to find a firm but creamy avo that contrasts beautifully with crisp lettuce as it is to find a soft one for mashing onto avocado toast.
This post's simple salad for a small household is a real treat, mouthwatering, delicious and satisfying.
But it also offers a beginer's guide to creating the right proportion of ingredients for a thrilling salad. It will turn you into a pro.
1/3-1/2 small crunchy lettuce like baby gem, or equivalent
2-3 inches/5-7 cm cucumber
1-2 handfuls washed baby tomatoes or 1-2 standard tomatoes
1/2 peeled ripe avocado
a few ounces of cold leftover meat or cooked prawns (opt)
Extras: (opt)
2-3 radishes, sliced thin
1 stick celery, washed, trimmed at top and bottomlightly toasted pine nuts OR sunflower &/or pumpkin seedscrumbled crispy bacon
2 tbsp good olive oil1 tbsp vinegar, pref basamic, OR white or red wine vinegar OR lemon or lime juice1/2 tbsp Dijon, wholegrain or other mild mustard1/2-1 small clove garlic, finely grated (opt but recommended)1/8 tsp sugar or a dash of maple syrup (opt but recommended)salt & pepper
- Mix dressing ingredients in a small jar with a tight fitting lid (washed empty herb jars from M&S are ideal here); shake vigorously until emulsified ( completely blended & thick); keep cool till needed
- Just before serving, separate lettuce leaves at the base, remove grotty bits of leaf or core, wash in a solution of 9 parts water & 1 part white vinegar; pat dry with paper towel. Slice into 1/2in/2 cm pieces
- Wash & peel cucumber but leave a space between each strip, leaving a striped appearance; slice thinly at a slant (see below)
- Wash & halve baby tomatoes or cut whole tomatoes into small bite-size chunks; spray with olive oil, salt lightly; rest
- Add the 3 items to the bottom of a good-sized bowl; mix loosely
- Peel half an avocado (leaving the stone in the remaining half, painting with oil or lemon juice and covering tightly with cling firm); vertically cut in 2 the remaining half; cut into med slices OR chop into generous-sized chunks; spread out on a board; sprinkle liberally with lemon juice to prevent discolouring. Add to bowl.
- Cut protein, if using, into bite sized chunks; add to bowl
- Lightly mix with tongs, being careful not to break up the avocado
- Vigorously shake dressing again; pour over enough to moisten but not overwhelm
- Dressing will keep in fridge 3-5 days
- Mixed Salads, Perfectly Pretty: simple appealling salads
- recipes for cooked avocado (surprisingly wonderful):
- Avocado Pilau: ambrosial, for slightly underripe avocado
- Avocado Vichyssoise: almost carb free; warm or chilled
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