Avocado, Crab & Tomato Salad

My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary this past week. It was a great first year and we couldn't believe how quickly time passed. To celebrate the occasion, we decided to do something different. Instead of going out for a great and extravagant dinner, we decided to have a great and extravagant dinner at home by creating our own tasting menu, based on our favourite foods. It was unexpectedly exhausting but our three hour extravaganza allowed us to put the rest of the world and all the distractions of our everyday life on pause while we took a bit of time to slow down and enjoy time with each other. As we recalled our memories of our shared life together, in the years before our wedding day and the year since, we found ourselves laughing until our sides ached.

For this very special evening, I started the evening out with crab, one of my favourite foods. This appetizer is super easy, fresh and flavourful. The avocado is velvety and smooth, the tomato fresh and clean, and the crab is luxurious and dressed so simply that its true flavours come through.

Avocado, Crab and Tomato Salad



Serves 2

You don't need a fussy plating for this, you can toss all the ingredients together instead of placing them in layers.

1/2 ripe avocado - diced (click here for tips on how to prep)
8 cherry tomatoes - diced
1/4 lb lump crab meat - dark & white meat
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 lemon (zest & juice)
pepper to taste

1. Divide the cubed avocado into 2 and place in the center of each plate.
2. Repeat with the tomatoes.
3. Gently mix crab with mayonnaise, celery salt, lemon zest & juice. Add pepper to taste.
4. Pile crab onto tomatoes and serve immediately.
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Avocado and Hearts of Palm Salad

Thanks to everyone who made my scrambled eggs posting the most viewed photo on Tastespotting.com last week and I welcome new readers who found me through that post.



When people find out I have a food blog the first thing they ask is, "How do you have the time?" This question is almost always followed by, "How do you come up with recipes?" The answer to the first question is time management but some weeks are better than others. The answer to the second question is sometimes it is through a fortunate accident but most times, I am inspired by an ingredient, a technique or another recipe.

My plan for this week's post was inspired by a great chicken dish I tried several years ago. I spent the week developing this recipe: spice levels and the cooking technique. I wanted to make dish something that was easy, delicious and accessible. Most times, what I envision and what happens are the same thing. The problem was this week that wasn't the case. First, the spices weren't quite there (not exactly a disaster, but not good enough to post) so it has sent me back to the drawing board and second, we had a cooking accident. We grilled the chicken on the barbecue at the same as we did a duck breast. The duck breast with its thick fatty skin created a dark grey smoke that imparted an unappetizing carbon-tinged colour to the meat. Not exactly the result I had intended.

So instead I offer up this really simple salad that we ate with the chicken last night. This is such a simple thing to put together that calling it a recipe is somewhat misleading. You need recipes for souffles, and cheesecakes but for this little salad? No, it's pretty easy. Think of it as a list of ingredients.

If you plan to serve this on a particular day, remember to purchase the avocado several days in advance. I think the addition of orange segments might be really nice in this salad as well which I will try next time. This salad is a welcome departure from the usual leaf salads that people have come to expect.


Avocado & Hearts Of Palm Salad
Yields 2 large servings

1 ripe avocado (diced) (Click here for a refresher on cutting an avocado)
3 hearts of palm (1 can) - sliced into 1/2cm coins

Vinaigrette
1/3 c olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch dried oregano (if you have fresh, use that instead)
1 tbsp of finely chopped parsley

Whisk together and ingredients and set aside.

Toss avocado and hearts of palm together. Drizzle vinaigrette over top and serve.

Updated April 11, 2009: Thanks to a reader for pointing this out... I inadvertedly forgot to include that you should add salt & pepper to taste and a squeeze of lemon to finish.
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What To Do With... Avocado

There are few foods that rival the utter joy of diving into a buttery, creamy avocado. It is both sinful (oh those calories...) and sublime. It is a study in contradictions in nature being both fruit and fat.

The ripe avocado is a bit of a diva. To enjoy one, it requires a little forethought and planning. Usually sold rock hard and too unripe to eat immediately, the avocado must be coaxed into ripening by sitting at room temperature on your kitchen counter for at least a day or two. An avocado at its peak, is utterly brilliant, but forget about it for an extra day or two and the avocado fades into a squishy, unpleasant mess. Even at its peak, this diva doesn’t travel well (she's a fragile little thing) and once exposed to air quickly turn an unappetizing brown. This diva waits for no one.

How do you know when an avocado is ripe?

Give it the slightest squeeze and if the flesh underneath the skin yields, it's ready to eat.

How to cut an avocado (safely)

To reveal an avocado’s fruit, work your way around the avocado with a sharp knife, its globe-like pit marks its center as illustrated below:



Once you have made your way around the avocado once, twist and gently pull apart one half from the other. Its bright yellow flesh is revealed. A ripe avocado is yielding but not mushy and mellow yellow that fades into a pale green the close you get to the skin. To remove the pit, lean your sharp knife into the pit, until the knife is wedged into it. Twist your knife slightly, and the pit should pop right out:



To cut the avocado into pieces, run your knife across the avocado in length wise, then cross-wise. To remove, take a large spoon and scoop out the flesh out:



Prepare an avocado only as you need it... It's beautiful yellow and green flesh quickly gives way to an unappetizing though edible brown.

Outside of guacamole, here is one thing I that really like to do with avocado:



Avocado milkshake: Perhaps it may seem unusual to see something normally associated with savoury food served as a sweet. But this is quite popular in Asia and your local Vietnamese restaurant probably has one on the menu. (I drank plenty of these while backpacking through Asia and there are few things as refreshing as that cold, creamy, green milkshake.) It is easily one of my favourite things to sip on in the summer. If you open your mind to trying it, I guarantee you won't be disappointed. It's velvety, creamy, sweet and distinctly avocado.

Traditionally avocado milkshakes are made with condensed milk. To make it with ingredients you already have on hand at home, take: 1 ripe avocado, 1.5 c milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract. Add ice if you like it extra cold (reduce the milk.) Blend until smooth. Add additional milk to loosen, if necessary. Serve immediately. If you really want to do it local style, consider a shot of espresso (or Vietnamese coffee if you can get your hands on it.) This drink is really quite special.
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