We arrived home from our weekend of shenanigans in Sligo and Belfast late on Saturday night, only to be woken up on Sunday afternoon by amazing brightness and sunshine. There was only on thing for it but a bright, refreshing pink grapefruit salad.
I enjoyed a variation on this salad in the wonderful Avoca Cafe just above the shop on Suffolk Street near Grafton Street in Dublin. My version wasn’t quite as nice but it was still pretty lovely!
What you need for Aoife Mc’s version of an Avoca Pink Grapefruit Salad for 2
1 large pink grapefruit
About 6-8 slices of good parma ham
A good, strong crumbly (yet kinda soft) cheese, either feta or goat’s cheese
A handful of walnuts
Nice salad leaves (I got some red chard and rocket)
Olive Oil
Salt n Peppa
Bit of good quality balsamic vinegar
Get your pink grapefruit and slice it into quarters. Slice out the flesh of each quarter and then chop them into bite-size chunks.
Put your walnuts into a pestle and mortar and give them a good bashing until they’re nice and small. As powdery as you like.
Get your salad leaves in a big bowl and dress them with salt, pepper, olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar. Mix in the walnuts and mix it so the leaves are coated. Crumble in the cheese and give it another wee mix.
Pop your salad on a plate and arrange the parma ham (teared into little bits) and the pink grapefruit chunks around the salad evenly.
Give the whole plate a big drizzle of olive oil and crunch a bit more pepper on the top, if you like.
There you have it! A lovely refreshing summer’s day salad. Wash it down with a cold glass of something made from grapes and of the fizzy, alcoholic kind. Yum!
I won’t post an mp3 this time as too many tunes were listened to over the weekend. But here is The Making of Night Horses, a little video Niall made about our friends Super Extra Bonus Party on their journey of creating Night Horses, their new album. Buy it here!
Categories: Lunch
May 26, 2009 at 3:10 pm
this is a lovely salad and a very odd video. The perfect combination in my opinion! GREG
May 26, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Oooh, that looks so refreshing and beautiful. What a stunning combination of flavors, Aoife. Love it!
May 26, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Hi Greg – glad you liked the salad and the vid
Thanks for visiting the blog!
Hey Diva – thank you! It was really lovely when I had it in Avoca, did you ever visit the cafe when you were in Dublin? Very lovely place, full of delicious food as well as beautiful girly things on the way up to the cafe!
May 27, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I’ve been to the Avoca Mills … and had a spectacular lunch there once … are they related? I can’t recall if I’ve been to the one in Dublin, will have to look at my travel log and see if I wrote anything about it. It sounds vaguely familiar, or it could be that I’m mixing it up with the Mills.
May 27, 2009 at 8:03 pm
They are related indeed. The Mills are out of the city but yeah, it’s the same company and more or less the same vibe. They have amaaaaaaazing bread and unbelievable chocolate cake and Bellinis and everything! Lovely.
And the funniest thing is I’m not really a girly girl at all but when I step through the door of Avoca I’m all “Oooooh frills and ribbons and pink and soft blankets and cake and teapots and oooooh!!!” It has that affect on most, I think.
May 29, 2009 at 10:28 pm
They are related, cool! I’ll never forget the amazing bread there – and the amazing veg soup I had. It was brilliant. And we bought the most beautifully colored blanket there as well. Sadly, its gone now, the moths got to it many year ago … but I loved it while it lasted. Will have to try the chocolate cake next time … which I wish was right now! LOL
June 1, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Hi Diva – the bread is fab from Avoca and those blankets are so lovely! I must get one for myself one of these days.