Spinach and Grapefruit Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette

Here’s the recipe for the Spinach and Grapefruit Salad. I described it thusly on my brunch menu:

“A light but wild salad - snappy spinach and grapefruit gets mellowed with avocado. Pistachios and Parm… Ginger Vinaigrette.”

Anyway, it’s a late winter-into-spring salad that can be served as a first course for dinner (yum with some steamed veggies and lemon-pepper tofu) or by itself for a light lunch.

Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 5

Spinach and Grapefruit Salad

2 grapefruits
2 avocados
1 bag baby spinach
1 head Boston lettuce, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
¾ cup pistachios
approx. 1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Prepare the grapefruit: Segment the grapefruit and remove the skin and white membranes of each segment by slicing down each side of the segment. I first cut the white rind off the center curl of the segment, shimmied the skin off the sides, then sheered off the outside membrane. It’s ok if the segments break into halves or thirds; perfection is overrated.

Prepare the avocados: Cut the avocado into half lengthwise and into halves again. Remove the pit and peel off the skin. Slice each quarter into thirds or quarters lengthwise. Halve these slices widthwise so you’ve something more like a cube.

Ginger Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 small clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper

Shake up all the dressing ingredients in a Tupperware or jar.

To assemble the salad, toss the lettuce, spinach, and grapefruit segments with the dressing. Distribute evenly on 5 plates or large salad bowls. Top each pile of salad with the avocado pieces, pistachios, and curls of parmesan cheese.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 7th, 2007 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Salads, Spring, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.