Avocado Romaine salad with homemade vinaigrette

Most of the time, I prefer not to eat salad. Especially if I'm at a restaurant and I can make the same $8-9 salad for less than $3. When I need my greens (which is pretty often), I generally make stir-fried Chinese vegetables. With that said, making a salad is just so easy sometimes that I've been making it with increasing frequency, especially when I'm feeling lazy. That, and I've recently bought a salad spinner, which makes it that much easier to make a salad. Since I only make salad once in a while, it's pointless for me to buy a bottle of dressing because more often than not, I only use it once or twice before it goes bad. Now I make my own very simple vinaigrette. This salad is especially good to make during summer when avocados are abundant. Avocados, of course, is a crucial ingredient. I love avocados.

Here's how to make it:


Wash, cut, and spin dry one head of Romaine lettuce. Store half of the lettuce in a ziplock bag for later (use within 3 days). Then dice up one small tomato.

I used roma tomato here but any kind you have is fine, just make sure it's ripe enough.

Now cut a avocado in half, twist to pry them apart, remove the seed. Score the avocado into small pieces while still in the shell.

Scoop out the avocado from the shell with a spoon into a large mixing bowl with about half of the lettuce and the diced tomato.

Now for the dressing, I make it with a simple vinaigrette that I saw on foodnetwork and then modified a little myself.

In a bowl, measure out 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Throw in about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons of salt and pepper, to taste.

Now HES and I both like garlic, a lot. So I add a little garlic paste into my dressing to spice it up. I got this plate grater from Marukai market here to make my life easier, but I think anything with a fine grate will work.

I used the whole clove in here. It's very strong. If the smell is an issue, like you're going on a date or making this for a date and you prefer not to smell each other later, then consider skipping this step. However, the garlic really makes the flavor of the vinaigrette pop so try it some time.

Whisk it up! Mix the oil and vinegar well. If garlic paste was added, the dressing will have a little sediment because the paste won't mix completely. This is perfectly fine. There may also be some undissolved salt, which is also fine.

Throw it all in and toss together! Coat the lettuce well. The vinaigrette should work it with all the stuff in there.

Put it in a beautiful little plate-bowl and voila!

Isn't it beautiful? It's tasty and healthy too. Top with some flaked Parmesan reggiano and it's complete. To make it into a meal, you can add chicken and crutons or something. A salad is never enough as a meal for me though. Enjoy!

Avocado Romaine Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette:

• Half head Romaine lettuce, chopped and spun-dry
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• freshly flaked Parmesan
  
• For the vinaigrette:
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp pepper, freshly grated
• 1 clove garlic, freshly grated into paste