papaya_avocado_salad.jpg

Happy Autumn Everyone! Wow, time is really flying! I have so busy working these past few weeks, I forgot that I still had this summer-y recipe waiting in the wings to get posted. Roberto and I are heading for a much needed vacation to New England to visit friends and family the second week of October and so I have been working feverishly hard on the Genesis project – typing out recipes, meeting with food vendors, collaborating with the menu design, etc. I have also been invited to participate in a very exciting blog event – I will reveal more about that later. But anyway, here is the long awaited second part to my Giada De Laurentiis tribute. Although the ingredients are summer, the colors are fall! Enjoy everyone!

I adore papaya – it has probably become my favorite fruit of all time – it has a wonderful creamy texture and is not too sweet but not at all bitter. I love eating it straight for breakfast or with a dollop of cardamom whipped cream for dessert. Paired in this salad with another creamy flavor of mine – avocado and you have a winning combination. The colors are beautiful and the flavors are simple. This is what makes this recipe great.

INGREDIENTS:

2 avocados, peeled, halved and pitted
2 papayas, peeled, halved and seeded (I don’t know what papayas are like where you live, but the ones down here in FL are huge! I only needed part of one for this recipe – the rule of thumb here is to have equal amounts of avocado and Papaya).
1 lime, zested and juiced
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (good quality)

METHOD:

Slice the avocado lengthwise into ½ inch slices. Slice the papaya width-wise into ½ inch slices. Arrange slices overlapping and alternating on a platter.
In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Spoon the dressing over the avocado and papaya and serve immediately.

*Cook’s Note*
The only thing I would change is the order of the method. I would first make the dressing allowing the ingredients to marry and the salt to dissolve, or use less salt. Then I would slice the papaya and avocado, the reason being that I could taste chunks of salt on the salad and it was not pleasant. I use coarse sea salt and usually I don’t need to grind it as it melts into whatever I am preparing. In this case I believe that there was not allowable time to make this happen.