Avocado, cranberry, and cashew salad with raspberry dressing

I decided to enter another recipe in the Gourmet Garden blog off/cook off. Couldn’t help myself… I didn’t have time to film me making this one. Well, I would have had time to film it, but not enough to edit it the way I would like.  Oh well, maybe my other video bored you anyway.

This sounds really weird, but it is super tasty. It looks pretty weird too because of the dressing, but that is what makes it super tasty! Seriously, give it a try.

I came up with the dressing because there is no raspberry vinaigrette here. I googled how to make some, but that required raspberry vinegar, and I didn’t have, nor know where to find that either. So I made up my own dressing. And I think it tastes better anyway. I have only ever tried the dressing on this particular salad, and it works quite well together.

Avocado, cranberry, and cashew salad with raspberry dressing

-1 cup shredded washed lettuce. Not iceberg, and nothing peppery, other than that, pretty much any will do. I use either cos (romaine) or hydroponic.

-1 large tomato, cut into 1-2cm peices

-1/4 cup shredded cheese (tasty, cheddar, or monterey jack)

-1 avocado, cut into 2 cm pieces

-1/4 cup craisins

-1/4 cup cashews

-1/4 – 1/2 cup garlic bagel chips (that’s what I use. I don’t make them, I buy them. The garlic ones are best for this dish!)

-1/8tsp dried dill

splash of olive oil

METHOD

Put everything in a bowl and toss. Except for the bagel chips, put those on top at the very end.

Raspberry dressing

-1/4 cup frozen raspberries, thawed or defrosted in the microwave (but NOT hot or warm)

-1 TBSP dijon mustard

-1 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp Gourmet Garden basil

1/8+ tsp Gourmet Garden hot chilli (amount depends on how hot you like stuff)

Salt and pepper to taste

If dressing tastes like it needs a bit more acidity, add a bit of lemon juice. The need really depends on the sweetness of the raspberries and therefore varies.

METHOD

Add all ingredients to a mug or cup and stir. Taste and add more salt/pepper/lemon juice/chilli as desired.  The raspberries will break up and become most of the dressing. This is quite a thick dressing.

Pour dressing on salad and toss/stir to coat and distribute evenly. Yeah, your salad will look reddish-pink and funky. Embrace it! Eat straight away so the avocado doesn’t go brown and the bagel chips soggy.

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson