butter lettuce with ruby grapefruit and avocado

my dad got me the green's restaurant cookbook for my birthday and we broke it in last night with this delicious salad. it's perfect for this time of year when grapefruits are still in their prime. plus it has avocado which, in my book, means it can't be bad. below is the recipe as printed which, with two heads of lettuce, would make a ton of salad so cut down as you see fit.

butter lettuce with ruby grapefruit, avocado and grapefruit-chili vinaigrette
(from everyday greens)
ingredients:
2 heads butter lettuce
2 ruby grapefruits
1 avocado, sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, toasted
salt and pepper
grapefruit chili vinaigrette (recipe follows)

wash and dry the lettuce.
remove 1 teaspoon of zest from one of the grapefruits and set aside. trim the peel and white pith from the grapefruit. segment the grapefruits over a bowl to catch the juice for the vinaigrette. reserve 1/3 cup segments for the vinaigrette as well.

make the vinaigrette (see below)

place the avocado slices in a small bowl and toss with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and spinkle with a little salt and pepper.

combine the lettuce, grapefruit sections and 1 tablespoon of the pumpkin seeds in a large bowl. gently toss with the vinaigrette and divide onto chilled plates. tuck the avocado slices between the leaves and garnish with the remaining pumpkin seeds and serve.*

grapefruit-chili vinaigrette
(makes about 1/2 cup)
ingredients:
1/3 cup grapefruit sections
1 tablespoon fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 jalapeno chili (red or green), seeded and coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon grapefruit zest

combine everything but the zest in a blender, puree until smooth, then whisk in the zest.

*i suppose if you're feeling fancy you can do that whole chilled plate, tuck the avocado thing...i just threw it all in a bowl, tossed and served onto our dinner plates. not fancy, still yummy.

-d