Tomato, Avocado and Hearts of Palm Salad
This is one of those pictures that really doesn’t need any words to persuade you how good it is. So beautiful on it’s own, I almost left you here without an explanation. But then… talkative old me decided I just couldn’t do that to you - I mean, you must be wondering just where this salad came from. Right?
I had this masterpiece in Argentina, at La Cabrera no less (the steakhouse I wrote about here). Since it was our second time back to the restaurant and we knew how big the steak portions were, my friend and I decided to split one order of steak and go with a salad instead. This one salad made of hearts of palm, tomatoes and avocados sounded interesting to her.
We ordered it and fell in love.
Recipe after the jump!
It was, as you can see, a work of art on a plate. We each took pieces of all three components and drizzled the accompanying dressing across each ingredient. The tomatoes and avocado were my favorite (I was never a huge hearts of palm fan). But I have to tell you, what made this salad was the freshness of the ingredients. Nothing tasted like it had been sitting around, every bite felt like it had been sliced just before it was served. And hey, there’s nothing like coming off a tomato scare (ahem…salmonella) with tomatoes as delicious as these!
The dressing tasted like a homemade Thousand Island dressing drizzled with olive oil. Sweet and tangy, it was perfect to dab all over our fresh salad. I decided that this salad was so incredibly simple but delicious that I would need to make it at home. I found a great dressing recipe that seems like the perfect match and have put together a recipe so you guys can make it at home too! Enjoy!
Tomato, Avocado and Hearts of Palm Salad
I had this fresh and delicious salad for the first time in Buenos Aires. I thought it would be too simple but these ingredients turned out to be a wonderful combination!
Ingredients
2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
2 fresh avocados, sliced
8 pieces fresh hearts of palm, chopped diagonally (or 1-2 cans since fresh might be hard to find)
1 C. mayonnaise
1/4 C. ketchup
1 Tbs. white sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 tsp. paprika
1 pinch ground black pepper
olive oil
sun-dried tomatoes for garnish )optional)
Directions
In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, ketchup, white sugar, lemon juice, paprika and pepper together.
Slice tomatoes and avocados to desired thickness and arrange around your serving plate. Sprinkle avocado with lemon juice to keep fresh. Chop hearts of palm diagonally and arrange on plate with tomatoes and avocados. Pour dressing into a small serving bowl (for dipping sauce) and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with sun dried tomaroes if desired, and serve!
Hint: You may make the dressing ahead of time, but I wouldn’t slice the vegetables until just before serving, to keep them fresh.
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Tags: argentina, buenos aires, hearts of palm salad recipes, tomato avocado and hearts of palm salad
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Ooh, Argentina - some of my Italian relatives immigrated there. I have heard it’s a pretty diverse place.It is on my list of travels I want to take.
This looks yummy :) Thanks for posting this.
Posted by Amber at July 21st, 2008, 8:33 pmIt is lovely and I love hearts of palm!
Posted by noble pig at July 22nd, 2008, 12:34 amThis sounds amazing! All my favorite fresh ingredients in one dish! I am going to try this over the weekend for my little get together! Thanks Hillary!
Posted by Sarah B. at July 22nd, 2008, 7:50 amWow! The dressing sounds delicious. I don’t remember having hearts of palm before so now I am intrigued to try it some time. A very pretty presentation!
Posted by robinsue at July 22nd, 2008, 8:15 amMMmm…I was wondering what to do with my left-over from yesterday avocado!
Posted by JEP at July 22nd, 2008, 11:27 amDudes, the point of food criticism is to criticize. Why is everybody so excited about this “salad?” I liked your meat blogs from argentina but this one makes me wonder if you’ve been taking money from the Kirchner family. Here we have a typical example of the lack of argentine creativity when it comes to actually creating anything gastronomically interesting. (I think their undercreativity is rooted in the overabundance of fantastic-tasting meat. I see an inverse relationship between national cooking skill and abundance of tasty stand-alone staples (note the spiciness of indian food for instance). Here, they’ve simply purchased vegetables and arranged them on a flat surface. That’s not cuisine, it’s a produce section. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_OPOfvhhHI
Posted by Patrick Walsh at August 4th, 2008, 12:53 pm