Recipe: Melon-avocado salad with lemon vinaigrette
This savory summer salad takes melon balls in a totally different direction.
When melon meets avocado, the contrast in color, texture and taste makes a delightful mix. Shredded cabbage adds a layer of crunch – and keeps the little balls from rolling off the plate. Zippy lemon vinaigrette pulls it all together.
It’s fast, different and delicious.
Melon-avocado salad with lemon vinaigrette
Makes 2 large or 4 small servings
Ingredients:
2 cups cabbage, shredded
1/2 cantaloupe or muskmelon, seeded
1 large avocado, seed removed
Zest of 1/2 lemon
For dressing:
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Arrange shredded cabbage on serving plates. With a melon baller or soup spoon, scoop out balls of melon and arrange over cabbage. With a smaller scoop or spoon, scoop out balls of avocado and arrange on top of melon balls.
For dressing, combine lemon juice, olive oil, ground red pepper flakes, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Screw on the lid and shake until combined.
Drizzle dressing over salads. Top with lemon zest.
Serve immediately.
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Garden Checklist for week of April 21
This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.
* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.