Radish and Avocado with Tarragon and Purple Basil
The evolution of a salad in three parts.
I’m not a huge fan of the avocado. I find it overly rich and buttery for most occasions. But I had one on hand that was small and firm and on the cusp of becoming over-ripe, so I wanted to come up with something that wouldn’t necessarily foil the avocado’s sweet tenderness but would both play it up and toss it down. I settled on The Radish.
People get to easily turned off by the radish’s bite. But that’s only if you eat it whole and one after the other. Diced into small pieces, it adds a marvelous heat to any dish and becomes more subtle the tinier the morsels.
This dish is really almost a salsa. Could be eaten as a salad or served as a side to grilled fish.
Variation 2
But a salsa type of salad might be too minimalistic for you so in this case the next step was to add the whole top of a green onion, finely sliced, and a bunch of torn and chopped radicchio for bitterness and depth.
Variation 3
And finely, if you’re really a salad lover of the vernal kind then the final result would be best for you: chopped coarse romaine lettuce leaves into thick strips and finely minced green chile. Once combined, the lettuce added a nice bed of crisp, watery flavour to an otherwise flavourful salad: sweet (avocado), spicy (chile), bite (radish), subtle bitterness (radicchio). Although I had added lime to the avocado, the salad in a full dish needed more dressing but I kept it simple and added 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of Portuguese olive oil.
Radish and Avocado with Tarragon and Purple Basil
Type
Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 avocado, diced and doused in lime juice
- 6 large red radishes, diced
- a sprinkling of coarse Himalayan sea salt
- a bunch of tarragon sprigs and a few purple basil leaves
Instructions
- I cubed the avocado pieces and placed them in a salad bowl then squeezed half a lime over top and ground coarse himalayan salt over top.
- I diced up the large red radishes and tossed them in and then went onto the deck and plucked the two herbs I thought would work the best and add the most contrast: the plucky purple asparagus and the anise driven tarragon.
- Really simple, super delish!
