Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

Is it late winter, or early spring? Grapefruits are a winter fruit, so we’ll go with late winter. Yesterday I decided that I wanted this salad for dinner, along with some chicken Milanese. The recipe is Ina Garten, but I have made a few modifications. I always forget how good this is, which is REALLY good, and perfect with crispy fried chicken breasts, with arugula on top, lightly dressed in the same vinaigrette, with shaved Parmesan on top. I liked dinner so much, I think I may make it again next week.

In case you’re interested, here is my version of the salad recipe. Ina’s is here. I’ve made a few small changes, because hers has too much salt and doesn’t yield enough grapefruit for me.

Avocado Grapefruit Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
  • Big pinch kosher salt (seemed like less than a teaspoon, but to your taste…you can always put more in, but difficult to take it out)
  • Freshly ground pepper, to taste, see salt comment
  • 1/2 cup good olive oil (I like olive oil from California, after reading years ago that most of the imported stuff is fake or mixed fake)
  • 4 ripe Hass avocados
  • 5 large red grapefruits (Ina’s recipe says two, but that’s hardly any)

Directions

Slice the peel off of the grapefruits, removing the white pith, then cut between the membranes to release the grapefruit segments. From 5 grapefruits, you can squeeze the remaining membranes and get the needed 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice. If not, supplement with lemon juice, which is what Ina’s recipe calls for anyway.

Place the mustard, grapefruit juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified.

Cut the avocados into pretty slices or dice like I did above, then toss in the vinaigrette to prevent them from turning brown. Arrange with the grapefruit however you like, and drizzle with vinaigrette. If you’re so inclined, sprinkle with a little sea salt and black pepper.

4 Comments

  • Ally Bean

    This recipe reminds me of a recipe from the 1960s that my mom made. She’d slice the avocados and the grapefruit, putting them on top of a bed of shredded lettuce, then topping it with homemade French salad dressing. Your recipe looks much easier, and more in tune with our times, but it’s funny how I flashed back to that salad.

    • J

      Ally, one of the comments on the Food Network recipe said something like that…”this looks like my mom’s recipe from long ago…”

      I’ve never had the avocado and grapefruit combo before this salad, but I love it. Just had some leftovers, over arugula, for lunch. Yummy.

  • nance

    I often eat avocado with oranges. I am not a grapefruit fan, but do know of the affinity of avocado and citrus. I just dress it with olive oil and rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper. So good.

    • J

      My coworker was telling me that she doesn’t like grapefruit, and I suggested she might try this with oranges, I’ll bet it’s delicious. Very similar to yours, just that this has an emulsified dressing, due to the mustard.