Friday, January 30, 2009

Grapefruit Avocado Salad with Grapefruit Glazed Shrimp

Lou was visiting his parents last week while attending a conference in Fresno and brought home a huge bag of grapefruit from their neighbor's grapefruit tree. Lou doesn't care for grapefruit alone and I doubt I can devour all of them on my own, so I have been creative about incorporating them into our meals, mostly with various takes on grapefruit salad. I served a smaller version of my Grapefruit Avocado Shrimp Salad as a starter for a dinner I made for a friend the other night. I had forgotten how good this combination is.

About a year ago, I submitted this recipe for a recipe contest at gofloridagrapefruit.com. Apparently, I didn't win, because I never heard from them. Perhaps my original recipe was too common or boring as it seems everyone does some combination of avocado/grapefruit/shrimp salad. Winning recipe it's not, but I think this dinner salad is tasty, easy, and fresh and well worth sharing with you. Let me know what you think!


Grapefruit Avocado Salad with Grapefruit Glazed Shrimp

Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter

1 Grapefruit
½ head bib lettuce or about 3 ounces mixed greens
1 medium avocado, diced and salted
¼ of a large daikon radish, peeled and julienned (cut into 1 inch long matchstick pieces)
¼ red onion, sliced thin

1 to 2 Tablespoons Olive oil for sautéing
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Remove the peel and pith from the grapefruit by cutting around the fruit with a sharp knife. Next, section the grapefruit by cutting along the membranes, collecting the fruit in a wide mouth bowl and capturing any juice. Squeeze the membranes to release any extra juice before discarding them. Set aside.

In a large bowl, place the prepared greens, diced avocado, daikon, and sliced red onion. Remove the grapefruit sections from their juices and add the fruit to the salad greens, reserving the juice.

Heat a 10 or 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cover the bottom of the skillet with olive oil. Add the minced garlic, then the shrimp. Salt the shrimp to taste and stir until pink and just cooked through. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set aside. Put the hot skillet back on medium-high heat and add the reserved grapefruit juice to the pan, scraping up any garlic left in the skillet until the juice is reduced to a glaze. Pour the glaze over the shrimp and stir to coat.

Make vinaigrette by mixing one Tablespoon white wine vinegar with two Tablespoons olive oil. Add a dash of salt and fresh ground pepper.

Pour the vinaigrette over the greens and toss. Separate the greens onto plates, then top them with the grapefruit glazed shrimp and serve.

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