Ahhh. It’s been a good month to be living and eating at my house, what with all the cool recipes the good people at Florida Citrus have sent me to sample. This week, I made this lovely and very interesting Florida Grapefruit, Avocado and Fennel Salad.
I know! It’s that impressive! Oh, and by the way, delicious, too. And really, how can it not be, when it combines grapefruit (yum) with what I consider to be the two best-tasing foods in the entire world: arugula and avocado. I was blown away. Actually, this experience has really shown me how hum-drum I’ve become in my meal prep. I hope I can keep some of the momentum going (I made salad with fennel here, people!)
Anyway, word to the wise; this one is impressive partly because it does require a little bit of work. Nothing too difficult, just some paper-thin slicing and lots of mincing, and (with my 5 year-old helper) this only took me about ten minutes to prepare. Still, it’s likely going to be more of a weekend and/or company’s coming kinda salad.
Here’s my little sous-chef topping the salad with the arugula (I used baby arugula, so it’s not julienned like in the photo above):
My kids were gaga over the look of the salad, and they dug the fennel, arugula, grapefruit and dressing, but nothing – and I mean nothing – was going to convince them to eat avocado. Which is fine because that just meant more for me.
In the end, the salad piqued my kids’ taste for grapefruit and we finished off our meal with this for dessert:
Bon appétit!
Florida Grapefruit, Avocado and Fennel Salad with Orange Juice
Created by: Brad Moore, Executive Chef, SCHOOL, Toronto, ON
Serves 8
• 1/3 cup 100% pure Florida orange juice
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon oriental sesame oil
• 2 large pink Florida grapefruits, peel and white pith removed
• 1 pound fennel bulbs, trimmed, cut into paper-thin slices
• 2 large avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, cut into thin slices
• 2 cups arugula
Whisk first 10 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper.
Using sharp knife, cut between membranes of grapefruits to release segments.
Spread fennel slices over large platter. Arrange grapefruit segments and avocado slices atop fennel. Drizzle dressing over salad. Arrange arugula atop salad.
Yum. I love avocado and arugula…and grapefruit for that matter!