Arugula, Grapefruit, and Avocado Salad

There is no question that grapefruit + avocado is one of the best and most underrated flavor combos this world has to offer. It’s probably not something you’d expect, and it’s a bit counterintuitive, but the sweet acidity of the grapefruit with the creaminess of the avocado is heaven. In this salad, I’ve also added a few other supporting characters like arugula, chopped mint, deglet noor dates, and a drizzle of balsamic. Honestly, I think it’s one of the best salads I’ve ever made.

Also, you’ll notice that things are a little simpler this time. Lately I’ve been inspired to work outside the typical recipe format. Sometimes (like when baking a cake) it’s important to know that I used 3/4 cup of flour and baked at 350º for 26 minutes, but there are also many cases where a recipe is overly restrictive and can take away some of the fun. I think it can be a lot more enjoyable to make your own creations for dinner, using a recipe as an inspiration but not a strict blueprint. Does that make sense?

This is what One Ingredient is all about. In my One Ingredient Transformation Course, an entire week is devoted to the idea of learning how to create unrecipes – tasty meals you can throw together on your own without the need for a full-blown recipe. Cooking is more fun that way, you learn more, and the food almost always tastes better.

With all that in mind, I put this salad together without proportions and the instructions are about 50 words long. But I also included a bunch of “remix ideas” to give you lots of inspiration on how you can make this uniquely your own and still have it turn out delicious. This style obviously won’t work for things like baked goods, but I might experiment with more unrecipes in the future. Let me know what you think!

To make this salad, add some arugula to a bowl, cube some grapefruit and avocado, pit and halve the dates, and finely chop some mint leaves (so that each bite has a little mint). Toss everything together, then drizzle with some balsamic and grind a little salt and pepper over top.

Remix Ideas:

• Other dried fruit would work really well in this salad instead of dates.
• Sunflower or pumpkin seeds would add a nice crunchy element.
• Toss with quinoa for a more complete meal (quinoa and arugula are amazing together).
• The balsamic adds a nice minimalist feel that lets the avocado and grapefruit shine, but you could always take it in a new direction with a full vinaigrette (like one of my salad dressing recipes).

Ideally, throw this salad together just before serving because the grapefruit and balsamic will cause the greens to become soggy if allowed to sit for too long.