Avocado grapefruit jicama salad

Avocado grapefruit jicama salad – this fabulous salad combines the freshest most delicate flavors in one bowl – crunchy jicama, crisp and cool cucumbers, bitter-sweet grapefruit and creamy avocado, with fresh lime juice and lots of cilantro.

I couldn’t wait to share with you this absolutely gorgeous and delicious salad!  I’ve been making it a lot lately, and meaning to post it earlier but every time I ended up wolfing down the whole thing, before I had a chance to photograph it.  So after the 5th time making this salad, I finally managed to muster enough willpower to stay away from it during the photoshooting.

This is probably the freshest salad I’ve ever tasted (and I eat mostly salads, so that says a lot)!   After months of overdosing in heavy foods, this salad feels like a breath of fresh air.

All  flavors sing in complete harmony and produce an incredibly refreshing  flavor – crisp butter lettuce, crunchy jicama, cool cucumber, creamy avocado, and mildly bitter-sweet grapefruit, with bright and citrusy notes from the cilantro and lime juice!  It is so delicate and clean tasting in fact that you do not want to overpower it with any strong dressings, or toppings.   I only added a mild-tasting avocado oil and a bit of salt.  I didn’t even add nuts on top – it was just perfect as is.

In this salad, the cilantro is the star.  I used more than a cup but feel free to adjust to your liking.  I used butter lettuce because of its mild flavor and delicate leaves, but I think hearts of Romaine lettuce will work well too.  As for the grapefruit, it has to be ripe and sweet.  That’s the beauty of this salad – you need to taste a mild sweetness at every bite.  So if your grapefruit is on the sour side, you may want to coat it with a tablespoon of honey first.

It’s funny how just a few years ago, I could not stand even the smell of cilantro, and now I adore it, and always put extra on any dish that calls for it.  I didn’t know cilantro existed until my early twenties.  The the first time I ever tried it, it was by mistake.  I was at the grocery store, getting produce for a tomato-cucumber salad with parsley.  I grabbed a bunch of cilantro, thinking it’s a different sort of  parsley, and made the salad.  Not sure how I did not detect the potent aroma while I chopped the cilantro, but at the first bite,  I had this weird shocking taste of soap in my mouth.  I tried to wash the salad and get rid of this cilantro taste but I ended up with a watery mess that still tasted of soap.

It seems no other herb evokes so strong polarizing emotions – people either hate it or absolutely love it.  There is this whole theory that stipulates that some people may be genetically predisposed to experience a soap-like taste and therefore hate it.  I am a bit skeptical.  Judging from my own experience, I think it’s an acquired taste rather than genetics.  I’ve gone from hating the smell to adoring the taste, and it took just one recipe to turn me around.  It was a quinoa salad with tomatoes, zucchini, cilantro, and balsamic vinegar.  Really simple and doesn’t sound very impressive but I had the courage to try it, and ended up loving it so much, I forgot about my hate of cilantro for good. So if you are in the cilantro haters’ club, it may be that you simply haven’t found the right recipe to convert you.  Try this one and see 😉  Just be warned, this is a light salad and will not keep you full for a long time, so it’s best to serve as an appetizer or with grilled seafood or meat.

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Avocado grapefruit jicama salad

Prep Time

15 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Avocado grapefruit jicama salad - this fabulous salad combines the freshest most delicate flavors in one bowl - crunchy jicama, crisp and cool cucumbers, bitter-sweet grapefruit and creamy avocado, with fresh lime juice and lots of cilantro.

Course: Salad

Servings: 3 -4

Calories: 285 kcal

Author: Viktoria

Ingredients

• 1 butter lettuce or hearts of Romaine lettuce
• 2 very ripe/sweet grapefruits, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 avocados
• 1 Persian cucumber or half English cucumber
• 1 small jicama, diced into matchsticks (about 1 cup)
• a big bunch of cilantro
• lime juice from 2 limes
• salt
• avocado oil (or other mild-tasting oil)

Instructions

1. Tear the butter lettuce in pieces
2. Cut cucumbers in thin slices (keep the peel on if using organic)
3. Peel and cut the jicama in matchsticks
4. Peel the grapefruit, and remove the white pith and membranes and cut the grapefruit into bite size chunks
5. Cut the avocado
6. Arrange the veggies on top of the bed of lettuce
7. Top with the cilantro
8. Pour the avocado oil and lime juice, adjust quantities to your liking and sprinkle with salt

Recipe Notes

Pick a sweet grapefruit. If it's not sweet enough, drizzle a tablespoon or two of honey over the peeled, and chopped grapefruit pieces, before using in the salad.