Avocado & Grapefruit Salad—a splash of color to beat those gray days of winter

January has been exceptionally gray this year.  I think it always is.  But I think the sun usually comes out occasionally.  We went for a 9 or 10 day stretch (at least) this year when the sky was a solid, flat gray.  I think even those with the most cheerful of temperaments were probably struggling to find ways to beat the winter blues.  I am one who enjoys the peace and tranquility of gray skies.  But this was even a bit much for me. 

In the middle of this stretch I found myself testing recipes for a new upcoming class.  One of the recipes was for a grapefruit and avocado salad.  Avocado and grapefruit salad is for some reason something I associate with ladies’ luncheons from the 60’s and 70’s….so it isn’t something I would normally be attracted to.  

But I love citrus salads.  And the combination of grapefruit and avocado really is delicious…and refreshing (and probably why it has never gone out of style).  This particular salad–inspired by a recipe in The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook—attracted me because of the grapefruit reduction vinaigrette (as opposed to the slightly sweet poppy seed dressings I associate with fruit salads from the 60’s…).  Best of all, it turned out to be just the thing to brighten that long stretch of gray.

On a Saturday when we were about a week into the gray, I had planned on making this salad for lunch.  I wanted to make it one more time to make sure I had all the measurements down correctly for my class handout.  It was a market Saturday (which only happens twice a month in the winter) and I was feeling so unmotivated because of the weather (did I mention it had been cold and snowy too?) that I had decided to skip it. 

As lunch neared and I began to gather my ingredients, I ran into this feeling that had been nagging me that the salad needed something more—a spark of some kind.  Something crisp…  or crunchy, maybe.  I had already included pistachios and a few shaved shallots, but I wanted to add something lively—and I was coming up blank.  As all of these things ran around in my mind—the salad...the weather…how silly it had been of me to skip the market—I remembered that one of the purveyors still had beautiful watermelon radishes.  And suddenly I knew that that was the spark I had been looking for.  So I jumped in the car and managed to get to the market shortly before it closed.

I thought the new version of the salad—which had been delicious before—was truly outstanding.  The shaved watermelon radishes added much needed texture…and their slight heat added some nice zip.  Additionally, while I was passing through the market I had grabbed a bag of sunflower shoots/microgreens (which are very good for you…and a super way to boost your nutrient intake any time of year, but especially during the winter)—so I threw some of those into the salad too.  

They turned out to be a delicious addition.  I will probably not always have access to these when I want to make this salad.  And many of those reading might not either.  But if you do, their subtle texture—and rich sunflower taste—really add to the whole. 

I don’t know how much power can be attributed to the ability of food to brighten one’s mood, but this salad certainly seemed to have that effect on me.  It was bright, juicy, tangy and refreshing—pretty much exactly what I was craving.  I can’t promise that it will have the same effect on others…but I can say that it was delicious (and certainly worth a try if you are combating a case of the winter blues).  

Avocado & Grapefruit Salad

The Vinaigrette:

Juice of 1 ruby red grapefruit, strained (about 1/2 c.)

2 T. golden or white Balsamic vinegar

1 t. Dijon mustard

2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/4 c. olive oil

Place the grapefruit juice in a small saucepan and reduce slowly over low heat until syrupy—you should have about 1 T.

Put the reduced juice, vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and salt into a small bowl; whisk until smooth.  Add the oil in a thin stream, whisking steadily, to form an emulsion.  Taste and correct the seasoning and balance.  Makes about 3/4 cup dressing.

The Salad:

1/4 c. raw shelled pistachios
1 small shallot (1 oz.)
2 to 3 ruby red grapefruits
2 handfuls (about 2 oz.) arugula
1 small watermelon radish (about 2 1/2 oz., trimmed)
1 avocado
1 T. minced Italian flat leaf parsley
1/4 c. (more or less) vinaigrette

Place the pistachios in a small baking dish/tray and place in a preheated 350° oven.  Toast until just fragrant (don’t let them get brown)…about 5 minutes.  Let cool.  When cool enough to handle.  Chop coarsely and return them to their pan.  Drizzle with a tiny amount of olive oil and season with salt.  Set aside.

Peel and trim the shallot.  Using a mandoline, thinly shave the shallot cross-wise.  Place the shaved shallots in a small bowl and cover with very cold water while you prepare the remaining ingredients. 

Prepare the grapefruit:  One by one, cut the stem and blossom ends from the fruit.  Place each fruit cut side down on the cutting board and following the contour of the fruit with your knife, remove the peel and cottony pith—working from top to bottom, and rotating the fruit as you go.  When the fruits are all peeled, hold them one by one over a bowl, and carefully slice between the membranes and the fruit to release the segments.  When all of the segments have been released, squeeze the membrane over a glass to release the juices.  Pour any of the accumulated juices in the work bowl into the glass.  (You will not need the juices for this salad, but they make a refreshing drink!) 

Place the salad greens in a medium sized bowl.  Using a mandoline, thinly shave the radish into the bowl with the greens.  Drain the shallots and spread on a paper towel.  Press another paper towel on top of the shallots to blot them dry.  Add the shallots to the bowl with the greens and radishes.

Halve the avocado and remove the pit.  Scoop each half from the skin with a large spoon in one swoop.  Place the avocado halved cut side down on the cutting board and slice thickly (1/2-inch or slightly more) crosswise.  Add the avocados to the bowl with the grapefruit segments.  Add the parsley.  Season with salt and pepper and drizzle in enough of the vinaigrette to coat the fruits generously (about 2 T.).  Toss to combine.

Season the greens with salt and pepper.  Drizzle the vinaigrette sparingly (less than a tablespoon) over the greens and toss.  If necessary, add more vinaigrette and toss again.  You want the greens and radishes to be lightly coated, but not weighed down. 

Spread half of the greens on a platter or individual serving plates.  Arrange half of the avocado/grapefruit mix over the greens.  Scatter half of the pistachios over the fruit.  Repeat these layers once, using all but a small amount of the greens.  To finish, add the small amount of remaining greens and drizzle over any of the vinaigrette remaining in the avocado/grapefruit bowl.  Serve right away.

Serves 2 for a light lunch or 4 as a first course.

Notes:

• I have called for raw pistachios because this is what I keep on hand. If you have roasted, salted pistachios on hand, by all means use them. No need to toast, oil and salt. Simply chop them coarsely. 
• If you can’t find watermelon radishes, just use 2 or 3 small red or pink radishes. 
• While I was testing this salad, I had some sunflower shoots/microgreens from a local grower on hand. I substituted some of these for a fourth of the arugula. They were a perfect addition and if you can get them I would encourage you to try them. 
• If you like, substitute a mix of citrus for the grapefruit. One grapefruit combined with one Cara cara orange and one blood orange is particularly nice. 
• Vinaigrette from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook.

Printable Version

Winter Citrus in a Pretty Pink Poppy Seed Cake

Today’s post is about a recipe fail....  But this is not a bad thing.  In a small way it is somewhat akin to the way a “foster fail” in animal rescue circles isn’t a bad thing.  Even though the result wasn’t the goal, ultimately the way things ended was very good.  Today’s cake is everything a cake should be.  It’s tender, beautiful to look at, pleasantly sweet… has a lovely, even grain…and is super delicious.  One might wonder what could possibly be wrong with it.  Well, the truth is, it isn’t the cake I intended to make.

 A few weeks ago a friend shared a slice of a delicious grapefruit cake with me.  Around the same time I saw a grapefruit poppy seed cake on Instagram.   These grapefruit cakes made me want to make my own grapefruit cake.  So I decided to make one…with poppy seeds.  As delicious as the first cake I tasted was, I wanted more of a pound cake texture (dense and finely grained).  The image I saw on Instagram was more in the style of a pound cake, but it seemed to get its flavor boost from slices of grilled grapefruit shingled on top of the loaf —which didn’t bode well for storage purposes (and one of the things I like about pound cake is how well it stores).  As I was thinking about the possibilities, I looked at a lot of recipes for pound cake-like poppy seed cakes.  But ultimately I ended up drawing mostly from Ina Garten’s lemon cake, Rose Levy Beranbaum's lemon poppy seed pound cake and Helen Goh’s lemon poppy seed cake.  With such fine recipes as my starting point, switching to grapefruit from lemon seemed like a fairly easy transition.

 And as I took my first run at the cake out of the oven, my hopes were high.  The cake looked perfect: golden brown, gently domed, etc.  It drank up the grapefruit syrup without any resistance.  Sometimes cakes act like “I’m full…no more.…”  And as you try to coax just a little more syrup in, it just runs off.  But not this cake—all the syrup was easily absorbed.  I made a beautiful pale, peachy pink (just the color of a pink grapefruit) glaze that fell in nice, thick random drips down the sides of the cake.

It sliced beautifully—without tearing or producing a mess of crumbs—displaying a fine even crumb on the interior.  Then.  I tasted a slice.  It was tender, sweet, moist and delicious. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t taste at all like grapefruit!  It had juice, loads of zest, grapefruit syrup and a grapefruit frosting—but it only had a vague kind of general citrus flavor.  I was mystified.  I gave out slices to friends—all of whom loved the cake (I had requests for the recipe) and all of whom agreed it didn’t taste of grapefruit. 

 I tried three more versions of the cake.  In the first I reduced a full cup of grapefruit juice down to two tablespoons before adding it to the batter.  (A nice bonus of having to squeeze so much juice was extra zest that I candied and used as a garnish…)  In the second I replaced all of the other liquid in the cake with straight grapefruit juice.  Neither of these produced a more discernible grapefruit flavor.  At this point, I decided to abandon grapefruit altogether and go with the blood orange that had been suggested by one of my first taste testers.  

The blood orange cake was also beautiful…and the frosting didn’t require any food color (in fact, I had to use part milk in the frosting to keep it from being a dark pink).  Again…I had high hopes.  Once again only a general citrus flavor…

You might wonder why I didn’t try varying some of the other ingredients—altering the amount of sugar…or the type of leavener…etc.  I could have.  And all of these things might have helped create the grapefruit taste I was looking for.  But any of these changes would also necessarily change the texture and character of the cake.  And since the texture and character of this cake was just about perfect, I wasn’t interested in pursuing any of those alterations.

Instead, I have decided to rename the cake.  I no longer have a failed Grapefruit Poppy Seed Cake, I have a wonderfully successful Pink Citrus Poppy Seed Cake.  It is delicious when made with grapefruit…  Or blood orange.  I imagine it would be excellent with Cara Cara oranges…or any juicy tangerine you might have on hand (there is a lovely new one out called a Ruby Tango that has great flavor and a beautiful rosy flesh).  Lemons would be delicious too.  Just think, if you made it with lemons and tinted the frosting pink, you would have a Pink Lemonade Poppy Seed cake. 

Pink Citrus & Poppy Seed Cake

1 1/2 c. All-purpose Flour (170g)

1 1/4 t. Baking Powder (5g)

3/8 t. salt

14 T. Unsalted Butter, room temperature (200g)

1 c. Sugar (200g)

1 T. grapefruit zest (or other citrus zest to match your chosen citrus fruit)--see note

2 eggs plus 1 yolk, room temperature (120g)

6 T. yogurt (90g)

2 T. grapefruit juice (28g)…or orange juice…or tangerine juice….etc.

2 T. plus 1 t. poppy seeds (20g)

3 T. sugar (38g)

3 T. citrus juice (45g)—match juice in cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F (see note).  Butter and flour a 6-cup loaf pans.

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.  Cream the butter, sugar and zest until light and very fluffy (about 5 minutes...possibly longer if the room is cool).  Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time.  Combine the yogurt and juice.  Fold in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the yogurt mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Add the poppy seeds with the last addition of flour. Turn the batter into the prepared pan.  

Bake until golden and a cake tester comes out clean—about an 60 to 70 minutes. 

Combine 3 T. sugar with 3 T. juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. 

When the cake is done, cool in the pan for 5 minutes; invert the cake onto a wire rack that has been lightly greased (pan spray works well for this).  Brush the bottom of the cake with syrup. Set the cake upright and brush more syrup over the top and sides.  Let cool completely.  

While the cake cools make the powdered sugar glaze (recipe below).  Scrape the glaze onto the top of the cake and use an offset spatula to smooth the top and force the glaze to the edges where it should slip slowly and randomly down the sides of the cake. Garnish with a sprinkled “stripe” of poppy seeds down the center.  When the frosting is "set", wrap the cake airtight. 

Notes:  

• My 6-cup loaf pan is pyrex/glass, so I lower the oven temperature to 325° F when I make the cake. 
• You can add 2 to 3 times this amount of zest.  There is a lot more flavor in the zest than the juice and increasing the amount of zest is the best way to boost the citrus flavor. 
• If you have time, combine the zest with the sugar ahead of time.  The zest will infuse the sugar with citrus flavor and amplify the citrus taste of the cake.

Pink Citrus Glaze

1 c. powdered sugar (120 g.)

1 T. melted butter (15 g,)
1 1/2 T. freshly squeezed (and strained) citrus (match cake) juice
1/4 t. freshly squeezed (and strained) lemon juice

1/4 t. vanilla

Food color to get pale peachy pink color (see note)

Combine the powdered sugar, melted butter, citrus juices and vanilla in a bowl and beat until smooth. The glaze should be fairly thick…but will flow a bit too.  If it is too thick, add a bit more juice.  Use immediately since the melted butter will begin to firm up right away.  (If the glaze sets up too quickly, a few seconds in the microwave will soften it nicely.)

Note:  If making a blood orange cake you will not need food color.  Instead, cut juice to 1 or 2 t. and make up the remaining amount with milk.  If you don’t cut the liquid with milk the frosting will be a dark pink instead of a pale pastel shade.

Printable Version

Citrus & Avocado Salad with Green Olives & Arugula...and a short lesson on How to prepare Citrus Filets



 

It has always been my intention to use this blog not only to share good recipes, but also to teach basic cooking methods.  If you have a working knowledge of good technique, any recipe you choose to prepare will be better.  Unfortunately I now find myself at the point where I have been keeping this blog for long enough that I sometimes forget which techniques I have described in detail.  As I was thinking about the salad recipe that I am posting today—a wonderful winter platter of avocados, arugula, olives and citrus—I began to wonder if I had ever taken the time to talk about preparing citrus filets (or, as they are sometimes called, citrus suprèmes).  I was surprised to discover that I had not.  So, before I share the recipe, I'll begin with a description—along with a few pictures—of how to  prepare citrus segments that are perfectly free of membranes, seeds, bitter white pith and peel.  In this state they are ready to add to today's salad....or any other citrus salad you have in mind to prepare. 

To begin, trim the stem and blossom ends of the fruit to expose the flesh.  This is commonly called "topping and tailing" the fruit:

Set the fruit so that it is resting on one of the flat, cut surfaces.  Using a thin, sharp knife, cut away the rind in strips.  As you cut, follow the contour of the fruit with your knife and use the previous cut to guide where you make the next cut so that you remove all of the peel, pith and membrane...but as little of the flesh as possible. Slice from top to bottom and rotate the fruit as you make each cut.  You should end up with a smooth, sphere of citrus that is free of membrane, pith and peel.

Note how at the second pass I use the line where the pith meets the flesh as a guide

My hands and motions stay in the same place as I work.
I rotate the orange...not my hands or my body position.

At this point you may either release the segments of the fruit (the filets or suprèmes referred to above)...or simply slice the fruit cross-wise into round pinwheels (as in my Clementine, Avocado and Pomegranate Salad).  Either style of cut is beautiful in a salad...and salads with both kinds of cuts (as in today's recipe) are especially attractive.

To release the citrus filets, hold the fruit over a bowl (to catch the juices as you work and to receive the filets). Begin by carefully slicing along the right side of the first segment (between the flesh and the membrane), slicing as close to the membrane as possible.  Cut only as deeply as is necessary to release one side of the segment.  

Make a second incision on the left side of the segment. 

This second cut should end where the first cut ended and the filet should easily fall out. 

Rotate the fruit in your hand and repeat this action on each successive segment until all the segments have been released. 

You may find that after releasing the first filet it is unnecessary to make a cut on both sides of the segment. If, as you are completing the cut on the right side of the segment, you rotate your wrist slightly to the right you will find that this will cause the blade to nudge the segment up and away from the core of the fruit.  As you continue to gently rotate and push upward the segment will pull cleanly away from the membrane on the left side and fall neatly into the bowl.  

Either method (two cuts per segment, or one) will work, but you will find that if you can release the filets with only one cut each, you will conserve more of the flesh of the fruit for your salad.

When all of the segments have been released, give the membrane that is left in your hand a good squeeze (as if you were wringing out a cloth or a sponge) so that as much juice as possible will be extracted.  

If you happen to be working with a seedless specimen, your work is done.  If however there are seeds, you will need to fish them out of the bowl and discard them.  

If you aren't going to use the filets right away, store them in a container, submerged in their juice.  They will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

I realize that in my instructions I have assumed you are right handed.  If you are left handed, simply reverse the instructions for releasing the segments (make the cut on the left side of the segment first...if you are using the "one-cut" version of releasing the successive segments, rotate your wrist to the left, etc.).

The citrus salad I'm sharing today was inspired by a recipe in Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques.  Her salad is a simple and classic combination of citrus and avocado, enhanced by tangy-salty green olives and peppery greens.  It is a delicious salad (perfect for brightening up a dreary winter day) and I have taught it exactly as published in my Winter Salads class for years.  But one day this past week I made a slightly altered version for my lunch.  I liked it so well it is probably the version I will teach in the future.   

The original salad includes watercress and frisée lettuce.  These are lovely in the salad, but the frisée is not reliably available in my area.  Moreover, it can be quite expensive.  Watercress too can be difficult to find (and even when it is available, its quality isn't always so fine).  Fortunately all of the interesting greens and lettuces aren't quite so hard to come by.  Arugula of good quality is widely available.  Because I love it I tend to keep it on hand anyway.  It echoes the peppery contribution of the watercress...as well as the slightly bitter note of the frisée.    

I have also altered the vinaigrette slightly.  Goin includes some of the mixed citrus juices in her vinaigrette.  I have left them out...their addition always made the salad seem slightly soggy to me.  The flavor of the citrus is still front and center without them and the resulting sharper vinaigrette is a perfect foil for the rich avocado and peppery arugula.   

For my version of this salad I like to toss all of the elements separately.  This allows me to arrange them in a purposeful way on the plate.  But it would probably be fine to simply place all the ingredients in a big bowl and toss them together.  When prepared this way, the salad might not be quite so beautiful on the plate....but it will still taste delicious.

With some multi-grain toast...a satisfying winter lunch.

 Citrus & Avocado Salad with Green Olives & Arugula

4 lbs. mixed citrus fruit (oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit, tangelos, clementines, etc.)

3 T. finely diced shallot (about 1 medium shallot)

1/2 T. red wine vinegar

1 1/2 T. lemon juice

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 large ripe, but not too soft, avocados (preferably Haas)

1/2 c. pitted green olives—Lucques, Picholines, etc.—halved

2 handfuls arugula (about 2 oz.)

Salt & Pepper

Prepare the citrus fruits:  One by one, cut the stem and blossom ends from the fruit.  Place each fruit cut side down on the cutting board and following the contour of the fruit with your knife, remove the peel and cottony pith—working from top to bottom, and rotating the fruit as you go.  When the fruits are all peeled, hold them one by one over a bowl (to catch the juices), and carefully slice between the membranes and the fruit to release the segments.  When all of the segments have been released, squeeze the membrane to release the juices into the work bowl.  If you're using blood oranges, don't cut them into segments; after removing the peel and pith, slice them into pinwheels and set aside on a small plate.  (They will "bleed" into the other fruit.)  Discard any seeds that you find.  You may store all of the other mixed citrus filets in one bowl or in separate bowls...as you prefer.  If not serving right away, store the citrus filets in their juice.   When ready to serve remove the filets from their juice.  (The juice may be used for another preparation...or enjoyed as a refreshing drink.)  You should have a total of 3 cups drained citrus fruit.   

Fruit for half a recipe...1 tangerine, 1 Cara Cara orange, 1 blood orange,
1 grapefruit and 1 clementine (not pictured)

Prepared citrus, sliced avocado and macerating shallots.

Make the vinaigrette:  Combine the shallot, the vinegar, lemon juice and generous 1/4 t. kosher salt in a small bowl.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Whisk in the olive oil.  Taste and correct the balance and seasoning.

When you are ready to make the salad, halve the avocados and remove the pit and peel.  Cut the avocado into scant half inch wedges, and place on a plate or a tray.  Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with vinaigrette. 

Season the blood oranges with salt and drizzle with some of the vinaigrette.

Place the drained citrus segments in a large bowl and drizzle in two or three tablespoons of the vinaigrette.  Season with salt and toss gently to combine.  Place the arugula in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle in a very small amount of vinaigrette and toss to coat.    

The salad may be built on individual serving plates or on a large platter.  To build, scatter half of the arugula over the plate(s).  Arrange half of each of the other elements (blood oranges, mixed citrus, avocados and olives) over and among the arugula.  Repeat this layering a second time.  Drizzle any remaining vinaigrette from the bowl of mixed citrus over the salad(s) and serve. 

Serves 4 to 6

 (Adapted from Sunday Suppers and Lucques, by Suzanne Goin)

Printable Version

For an alternative presentation, arrange all of the avocado slices on a plate, season and drizzle with the vinaigrette.  Arrange all of the dressed citrus (in this case just Cara Cara oranges and Ruby Red grapefruit) over the avocado and scatter the olives over the citrus.  Dress the Arugula and place a small fluff in the center of the plate: