drawing inspiration

One of my favorite things about the world of food blogs is being inspired by other people's recipes - and then tweaking them out and making it your own. While I was in the midst of my starvation diet juice cleanse, I came across a recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen that really jumped out at me. I am a sucker for anything with hearts of palm in them...and the combination of heart of palm and avocado was too much to resist. As soon as I was sprung from food jail, I was going to make this dish.

Sure enough, I used her recipe to break my fast. I stayed pretty true to her recipe, although I did make two changes. I omitted the pine nuts because it did not call for them to be toasted & I'm not a big fan of them just plain. I bet they do add a slight crunch to the dish. I topped my salad with shrimp I sauteed in lemon, good EVOO, oregano, and red chili flakes and then let cool. This was DELICIOUS! A great summer entree salad...or do it without the shrimp as a great warm weather side. Thanks, Kalyn!

Rich Salad with Hearts of Palm and Avocado - originally posted at Kalyn's Kitchen

1 avocado

1 head Boston lettuce washed if necessary

1 cup sliced hearts of palm

2 tbsp. pine nuts

Dressing:

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil - use your best quality oil here

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice hearts of palm and put into bowl. Dice avocado and add to hearts of palm, pour over 2 tbsp. of dressing and toss. Coarsely chop lettuce and arrange on individual plates. Arrange avocado/heart of palm mixture over lettuce. Dress with additional 1 tbsp. dressing on each salad, sprinkle with pine nuts, and serve.

Comments

[cath]

Excellent! I was planning on a week of eating hearts of palm (penance); another recipe to try. Thanks!

[Mary Schmidt]

Excellent! I'm an unabashed foodie blog groupie and just found yours (from Matt Bites).

Sounds perfect for warm weather. Thanks for posting!

Another salad for summer (sorry, no hearts of palm) - super simple. Baby spinach, red onions and grilled peaches, with just a touch of balsamic. A little warm goat cheese doesn't hurt either.