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 May 5
Survey your garden after the May 4 rainstorm. Heavy rain and gusty winds can break the neck of large flowers such as roses. Also:
* Keep an eye on new transplants or seedlings; they could take a pounding from the rain.
* Watch out for powdery mildew. Warmth following moist conditions can cause this fungal disease to “bloom,” too. If you see a leaf that looks like it’s dusted with powdered sugar, snip it off.
* After the storm, start setting out tomato transplants, but wait on the peppers and eggplants (they want warmer nights). Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* 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, pumpkins, 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.
* Don’t wait; plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.