Avocado and Watercress Salad

I was thumbing through the light recipes on Epicurious looking for an idea for lunch. I came across this recipe for an avocado and watercress salad, which was featured in Gourmet magazine. This recipe evidently originates from Natori, a Japanese restaurant in New York. The recipe looked so great. A soy sauce based dressing that includes grated apples? How interesting! And how can you go wrong when avocados are a main feature to the dish? Plus I love the bitter taste of watercress.

I think this dish took me a whopping 15 minutes to make—perfect for a lunch. I even had some leftover to have along with my dinner. The dressing is so tasty that you should save any extra dressing for salads later in the week. I bet it would also be great served over steamed veggies, potatoes, or even a fish.

A hint: When preparing the watercress (it needs to be just the leaves and thin stems), hold the stems of the bunch in one hand. With your other hand take a chef’s knife and at an angle slide the blade along the stems away from yourself such that the leaves and thin stems are sliced off leaving behind the thicker stems. Keep doing this until all leaves are removed.

Okay, here is the recipe from Gourmet magazine (May 2008), which makes 6 servings:

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 1 tablespoon grated sweet onion such as Vidalia or Walla Walla (use large holes of a box grater)
• 1/4 cup finely grated peeled Gala apple (use small holes of box grater)
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 cups watercress (thin stems and leaves only; from 1 large bunch)
• 1 firm-ripe avocado

1. Stir together vinegar, onion, apple, soy sauce, and sugar until sugar has dissolved, then stir in oil.
2. Just before serving, toss watercress with enough dressing to coat.
3. Quarter, pit, and peel avocado, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Gently toss with watercress.

Enjoy!