Dressing ideas for grapefruit/avocado salad

Hi!

Like others around here, I have really been enjoying the Texas red grapefruits lately!

Tonight I tried to recreate one of my Grandmother's favorite salads that I remember from my childhood. I started off with a bed of lettuce (I used a "three heart blend" of romaine, green leaf and sweet butter) topped with grapefruit sections, avocado slices and very thin slivers of red onion. The dressing that my Grandmother used to make was a mild, slightly sweet vinaigrette. I typically favor more bold vinaigrettes and never add sugar/honey/sweetener to mine, but hers really complimented this particular salad very well, so I gave it a shot. I threw together olive oil, white wine vinegar, a little grapefruit juice (squeezed from the rest of the fruit after it had been sectioned), a touch of honey, a touch of dijon mustard and some salt and pepper. It actually turned out to be quite delicious! BUT I am interested in getting some other homemade dressing ideas for such a salad, so please share if you have any recipes or ideas...

Thanks!!
CC

I've made this before, it's a classic from Joy of Cooking. To some degree, the grapefruit and avocado combine and make a bit of a dressing, but the recommended dressings are (they have a couple versions of the salad)

Tangerine-Shallot Dressing
1 peeled garlic clove
2-3 pinches of salt
1/4 cup fresh tangerine juice
2tbsp lemon juice
1 minced small shallot
2/3 cup vegetable oil (I always use EVOO)
Mash garlic and salt into a paste, whisk in everything but the oil, add oil in a small stream while whisking

Poppyseed-Honey Dressing
1/4 cup honey
3 tbsp fruit vinegar
1 minced small shallot
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp poppy seeds
salt and pepper to taste
EVOO
Whisk all ingredients except oil, add oil in a small stream until blended.

Celery Seed Dressing
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp celery seed
1 tbsp grated onion
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup rice wine or cider vinegar
sprigs of lemon thyme
Combine the dry ingredients and add grated onion. Whisk in wet ingredients and garnish with thyme.

I think I used the citrus viniagrette when I did it. It's a surprisingly delicious salad, no?

How about adding some port into the mix -- reduce 1 part port with 3-4 parts orange or grapefruit juice until reduced by 2/3 or so, and then use that as the base for the vinaigrette. I've done this many times for a grapefruit salad. I then combine the reduced port-juice mixture with a little minced shallot and garlic, oil and vinegar (sometimes egg yolk if I want a thicker dressing). It's similar, yet different enough, from what you are already doing.

I love grapefruit and avocados together!

There's a great recipe for "Ruby Grapefruit, Avocado, Pickled Red Onions with Baby Spinach and Grapfruit Mojo Dressing" in the Millennium Cookbook. It also has chile-lime toasted almonds on top. Their dressing involves garlic, evoo, cumin, grapefruit and lemon juices, light miso, jalapeno, honey or sucanat, mint, and salt. (Millennium is a gourmet vegan restaurant in San Francisco.)

I have my own simple dressing that I like to use for an avocado and grapefruit salad. I mix a little bit of Thai green curry paste with lime juice, grapefruit juice, and extra virgin olive oil.

I'm a big fan of grapefruit avocado salad. My grandmother also made it, often with the addition of sliced hearts of palm and/or pomegranate seeds. In recent years, I've been adding a tablespoon or so of pomegranate molasses to the dressing. It's not too sweet and adds a nice tang.