Wow everybody at dinner tonight with this elegant, flavorful salad.
Want a quick, easy and fantastically flavorful way to invigorate those salad taste buds? Easy! Just combine ripe pears, ripe avocado, coarsely chopped shallots, dried cranberries and feta cheese for a great tasting sweet and savory salad. Cut, mix, and enjoy!
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Ingredients
(for at least 2)
1 Ripe Pear
1 Ripe Avocado
1/2 Large or 1 Small Shallot (can be substituted with 1/4 red or any onion)
Dried Cranberries (can be substituted with raisins)
Feta (or any) Cheese
Ground Black Pepper (optional)
Equipment
Cutting Board
Bowl
Sharp Knife
Big Spoon
1. Rinse and shake dry a ripe pear in the sink.
Cut the pear in half lengthwise, and cut the pear halves lengthwise in half again.
Carefully remove the core from the pear quarters.
Cut the pear quarters lengthwise into slices about 1/4 – 1/2 inch (6-12 mm) wide, and then cut the slices in cross section into pieces also 1/4 – 1/2 inch (6-12 mm) wide.
2. Cut a ripe avocado in half lengthwise around the seed and twist the two halves apart.
To remove the seed, make sure your fingers are out of the intended knife path as you hold the avocado half to the cutting board with the seed facing up and drive the flat sharp edge of the knife blade into the seed. Then…
…twist the knife and lift the loosened seed out of the avocado. Remove the seed from knife by pinching it from the back, dull side of the knife blade.
Cut each avocado half again in half lengthwise into quarters, and peel off the skin.
Cut each avocado quarter into slices 1/4 – 1/2 inch (6-12 mm) wide, and cut the slices in cross section into pieces also 1/4 – 1/2 inch (6-12 mm) wide.
3. Cut a shallot in half, chop off both the stem and root ends, and peel off the skin. (If you’re using an onion, which is very similar to a shallot, use the pictures below as a guide.)
Cut cross section slices into but not through the back of the shallot halves about 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide (the uncut back of the shallot will act like the binding of a book and keep the shallot together when the slices are cut in cross section). Then cut those slices in cross section into pieces also about 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide.
4. Put the cut pear, avocado and chopped shallots into a bowl, and add a handful of dried cranberries (or raisins),…
…a shot of salad dressing, crumbled feta cheese and an optional crunch of ground black pepper.
5. Finish by stirring the salad with a big spoon until all the ingredients are well mixed together and lightly coated with salad dressing as shown in the picture on the right.
Read more in Food and Best Meal Ever on The Good Life.
All images courtesy of Bruce Tretter.
I made this today, with a few changes – left out the cranberries and only used lemon juice as the “Dressing” to keep the avocado and pear from going brown on me. (I made a rather large batch)
Just finished a bowlful and it was phenomenal. Thanks for the idea!