Butter Lettuce + Mango + Avocado | My Best Summer Salad

My Best Summer Salad

Where I now live, in Sarasota, FL (we moved here after a long stint in LA (10 years for me, 20 for the hubs), there is one thing that is the best thing and above all the other things about Florida life, and that is mango season. Sorry about all the things. The mangoes here are so incredible. People have mango trees in their backyards and you can pick them fresh and eat an entire fruit on its own, or as I prefer it, with a bit of pink salt and some cashew cheese.

However, the best application in real life for mangoes, in my opinion, is in a salad. I love salad. It used to be difficult for me to digest raw greens, but thanks to rebuilding my gut health over time and being really strict about avoiding gluten, I can now eat tons of salad and it is one of my favorite things ever. While I love a simple arugula, lemon, olive oil, garlic situation as a side to pasta, most of the time I go big with salads. I try to eat nutritionally dense foods that will keep me satisfied and my blood sugar balanced, so for me, a salad has to have several layers. This is one I serve over and over throughout our short and very sweet mango season. You can also buy mangoes at your local store and they will be pretty good, or replace with papaya or even peaches.

I love mangoes so much, that I have to almost put them out of my mind between September - June, but when they are here, I eat one every day. A great mango should be creamy, reminiscent of ice cream in texture. Once you've had a fresh, ripe, Floriday mango, you will never go back!

Ingredients:

Serves 4 as a side salad, or 2 as a main

Salad

6 cups of butter lettuce (two containers if you buy it in a box)

1/2 shallot, sliced thinly

1 avocado, sliced or diced, as you prefer

1 whole mango (or peach or papaya if you can't find a mango) peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces

1/2 cup of toasted almonds or pepitas

Optional chopped dill, basil, or mint

Lemon Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup champagne or apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp lemon juice (1/2 of a lemon)

1-2 tbsp honey (I like it sweet, so I do 2)

1 tsp dijon

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Make the dressing by adding the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, honey, dijon, salt, and pepper together in a blender, and turn on to low until creamy. This can be done up to two days ahead of time.

2. Add lettuce to a large salad bowl along with herbs if using

3. Add mango on top, then avocado, shallot, and nuts or seeds.

4. Add dressing, and toss to combine right before serving.

Eat! This salad is great on its own, but I like to serve it alongside roasted sweet potatoes and wild salmon or grass-fed steak.