Spring In A Bowl

Spring has sprung and a young girl's fancy turns to... salads. There's nothing that quite expresses the season like a bowlful of fresh greens. And reds and yellows and all the other colours veggies give us.

Last night's dinner I dubbed a guacamole salad, as it involved some of the same key ingredients: avocado, tomato and lime. You don't really need a recipe for salad, but I'll tell you, I cubed the tomato, some roast chicken, and Le Mamirolle cheese, layering them between handfuls of a mix of baby spinach, radicchio and arugala.

For the avocado, I got to try a slicing technique I saw employed by my friend Francisco Alejandri, owner of the fabulous Agave y Aguacate. Rather than my old method of using a knife to slice the fruit in the skin, then scooping the whole thing out, Francisco uses a spoon to create perfect slices. It's so easy, I can't imagine ever doing it any other way now.

Along with these ingredients, on the layers I put fresh cracked salt and pepper to taste and squeezed the juice of half a lime. Between the lime, the avocado and the cheese, you really don't need any other dressing. It was a great, light supper full of flavour, colour and texture. Next time, I think I'll add some fresh cilantro and toss the chicken in a bit of Rossy's ramp chimichurri. As she would say, el yummo.