When I compose a salad, I like to pair buttery flavors with bright ones. Here, creamy avocado is offset by the mustard vinaigrette and peppery radishes. I especially like making this in early spring, when the first radishes appear at the market.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 head butter lettuce, torn
8 slender pink French breakfast radishes or baby round red radishes, halved
1 scallion, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced at an angle
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh dill
1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and sliced
Preparation
Step 1
Whisk together the vinegar and mustard with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Continue whisking and add the oils in a slow, steady stream until the mixture is emulsified.
Step 2
Toss the dressing with the lettuce, radishes, scallion, and dill. Top with the avocado and serve.
Reprinted with permission from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes by Jean-Georges Vongerichten with Genevieve Ko. Copyright © 2011 by Jean-Georges Vongerichten; photographs copyright © 2011 by John Kernick. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten is one of the most influential chefs in the world, having single-handedly redefined haute French cuisine, lightening and refining it by adding select Asian accents. He is the chef-owner of dozens of restaurants in fourteen cities around the world. His flagship restaurant, Jean Georges, at New York's Columbus Circle, is one of six restaurants in the United States to have been awarded three coveted Michelin stars; it received four stars from the New York Times. The winner of multiple James Beard Foundation awards, he lives in New York City and Waccabuc, New York, with his family.
Genevieve Ko is a cookbook author and the senior food editor at Good Housekeeping magazine. She has written for Martha Stewart Living, Gourmet, and Fine Cooking and lives in New York City with her family.
