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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Avocado-Mango Salad w/ Gorgonzola, Bacon, & Toasted Pepitas

A while ago, I made a pact with myself that I would start making more types of salads.  I believe it came about when I was slogging through a couple years worth of blog posts trying to make my index pages.  I realized then that I needed to expand my salad repertoire.  I think I've done a fairly good job of it since then.

Helpful hint?  Start an index page as soon as you start your blog.  It's extremely frustrating and time-consuming to wade through hundreds of posts trying to get your shit in order later.
But back to the point - salads.  They're not just for rabbits anymore.  The thing about me is, I usually find myself making meal-salads (as opposed to side-salads).  Salad as a meal is interesting, layered, complex.  Side salads are what I eat to get more roughage into my diet when it seems lacking.  And though I'm almost ashamed to admit this...almost...my favorite simple salad is just crispy Romaine with some lemon or lime juice squeezed over it.  I suppose in actuality, that's not really a salad.  Just lettuce.  So you see, commence salad repertoire expansion process?  It was definitely in order.

I definitely consider this a meal-salad.  The texture and flavor layers are insane.  Butter lettuce is crisp, yet soft and velvety.  Sweet juicy mango.  Creamy avocado.  Smoky, salty bacon.  Earthy toasted pepitas.  Pungent cheese.  All drizzled in a dressing that is all kinds of nutty, tangy, sweet, and hot all in the same mouthful.


Avocado-Mango Salad w/ Gorgonzola, Bacon, & Toasted Pepitas

by Heather Schmitt-González
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Keywords: salad avocado bacon mango lettuce Mexican summer

Ingredients (serves 4)
    dressing
    • 4 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
    • ½ c. pepitas, toasted
    • ⅓ c. freshly squeezed lime juice
    • ⅓ c. olive oil
    • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
    • 1 small jalapeño, stemmed
    • 1 Tbs. honey
    • salt, to taste
    salad
    • 1 large head Butter lettuce, leaves separated
    • ¼ of a small head of radicchio, leaves torn
    • 2 large ripe California avocados
    • 2 mangoes
    • ~¾ c. gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
    Instructions
    Pour oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and jalapeño and cook, stirring regularly, until garlic is soft and lightly browned, ~5 minutes. Scrape everything into the jar of a blender. Add ⅓ of the toasted pepitas (save rest for salad), honey, and ~½ teaspoon of salt. Blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed.

    Arrange lettuce and radicchio among salad plates. Pit the avocados, cut into slices, and scoop from flesh. Peel the mangoes and cut the flesh from the pit. Slice into pieces about the size of the avocado. Arrange both on top of the lettuce. Drizzle some dressing over everything and then sprinkle with reserved pepitas, crumbled bacon, and gorgonzola. Enjoy!

    adapted from Everyday Mexican
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    I am sharing this post with:
    FOTMC: Mangoes
    IHCC theme: May Potluck
    Join Dine & Dish and Cookin’ Canuck for the California Avocado 4th of July Blast, sponsored by theCalifornia Avocado Commission.
    FOTM at La Cocina de Leslie Rick Bayless @IHCC button rounded Souper_Sundays2 weekend cooking gallery of favorites SummerSaladSundays

    Would you like to comment?

    1. Luckily I read this BEFORE I left for the market, great salad! Have a fun weekend ;)

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    2. Avocado, bacon, Gorgonzola?!? Sign me up! Stopping by from IHCC. I love seeing what everyone comes up with each week. I cannot wait to make your salad!! Thanks so much for sharing. :)

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    3. Avocado and mango are two of my favourites. I have a mango on the counter and butter lettuce in the fridge.

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    4. josé manuel martín fernándezMay 28, 2012 at 3:32 PM

      Ya te la he copiado, una ensalada estupenda.

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    5. Nice! My kids will eat this cause of the bacon, so I am going to try it! Summer is a great time to eat a lot of dinner salads anyway. Today is going to be a scorcher and I don't need to turn on the oven...


      I like the banner with the bow-tie pasta!

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    6. Both are my favourite ingredients.. The salad must be so yummy !!

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    7. I love a good main dish salad with all sorts of layers and textures. Everytime I go through his Everyday book I look at this recipe and tell myself I need to make it. For whatever reason I don't make a lot of main dish salads either, but I plan on changing that this summer. This looks like a good one to start with!

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    8. Avocado and mango...two of my favourites. The salad looks wonderful.

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    9. I've been on a mango kick lately...and we always have plenty of avocados, since we raise them here on our family farm. Adding bacon, gorgonzola and pepitas put me over the top! Headed to the store right now. Must have this salad!

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    10. What a beautiful salad. Love the ingredients!

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    11. Nice. Love the tropical theme. I just made an avocado salad for the swordfish and it was such a hit we will be having more tropical sides now. So hot these days. Seems like salads will be all I want for quite awhile.

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    12. Oh, yes. Lovely ingredients. I've stumbled you, too.

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    13. Love salad meals in the summer. You sure know how to fulfill salad wishes! Loving the pepitas in this - just adds extra zing.

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    14. I would have to use a different cheese, but otherwise it sounds great.

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    15. If you don't like blue cheese, try it with some crumbled queso fresco or another fresh, mild cheese - still great!

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    16. I know, I'm having that feeling, as well!

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    17. MAJOR truth about the recipe index...I started mine about two years into my blog and it was a PAIN to index all those recipes! Now I update it every month...and still hate the task. Love this salad! So many fun flavors in it!

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    18. What a refreshing idea. Love avocado on just about anything.

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    19. Great looking salad, love the combination of the mango and bacon. The dressing looks so good.

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    20. This, I wish I could eat right now. You had me at avocado and bacon.

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    21. Oh my goodness. I need to marry this salad. It is the most beautiful salad in the world. I can't believe how many wonderful things are in it!
      I can attest to the get organized part - I am over 4 years of not organized. There is no hope for me. ;-)

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    22. Gorgonzola and bacon...what else does one need to say! Yum and then the avo and seeds. Lovely.

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    23. A lovely plate of salad! I have four ripe avocados, three ripe mangoes and some jalapenos in my fridge right now, thanks for this delicious idea!

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    24. Yvette mwcadventureMay 28, 2012 at 3:47 PM

      Yum, wats not to like about this salad.
      I think i'm going to follow youre advice on indexing;-)

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    25. What I wouldn't do to have just a few avocado trees...

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    26. Lovely salad. With all the mango posts I'm seeing lately, I feel like the oddball since I don't like them. But I really need to get my hands on this dressing!


      As for getting shit in order--when I started an index some time ago, I stopped tagging posts. Now I'm thinking I should be doing both. Ahhhh...to tackle 3 years worth of tags.

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    27. This is a salad after my own heart. You know how much I adore mangoes and avocados. :)

      And I totally agree with you about starting an index as soon as you start a blog.

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    28. Looks very good and healthy!

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    29. I'm having the index page issue now too...


      I love this gorgeous summer salad, what a lot of wonderful flavours and textures you've got in there. It sounds so good!

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    30. Oh Heather, this salad look incredible! Sharing with my readers on Facebook and look forward to trying soon!

      Jenn

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    31. "extremely frustrating and time-consuming to wade through hundreds of posts trying to get your shit in order later."
      this is me, LOL!! this salad looks insane good! love it!

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    32. This is such a pretty salad, I love everything about it! Thanks for sharing it with Souper Sundays.
      ;-)

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    33. That seems so very jummy!


      /Linn @ http://morningdiaries.blogg.se/

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    34. What others have said -- avocado anything and I'm in. This is perfect timing for salad season -- when we get beautiful awesome lettuce from my CSA. LOVE this time of year.

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    35. I have everything but the mangoes!

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    36. Oh wow, too many favorite ingredients in one salad. What am I going to do? Make it, of course :) Thanks for sharing this with Summer Salad Sundays, look forward to seeing you again soon!

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    37. Wow! The flavors in this salad are amazing. Sweet, salty, creamy.





      I’d love for you to share this recipe (and any of your other favorite avocado recipes) in the avocado link-up/giveaway that I’m hosting with Kristen of Dine & Dish right now. http://bit.ly/NKF4rk

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