EASIEST MANGO AND AVOCADO SALAD

  

  Adapted from a recipe in “Memories of a Cuban Kitchen”,  by Mary Urrutia Randelman,1992, from my first publisher, Macmillan.  Aside from the authentic family recipes, Urrutia gives us a glimpse of upper-class Cuban society in  Havana before Castro and the revolution—a world of yacht clubs, fine restaurants, elegant department stores, a Woodworth’s where she ate chicken salad on “American bread,” afternoon teas, formal dinner dances, Xmas eves with roast suckling pig, summers at seaside resorts on the Caribbean. 

The family immigrated to Miami, Florida in 1958, merely a year before Castro took power. Mary was 10 years old.

The thing to remember about this salad is that the mango and avocado must be perfectly ripe.  The mango will be slightly soft to the touch... the flavor is peach-like; if overripe it gets fibrous. The avocado should also be slightly soft when gently squeezed.

  

  1 mango

  1 large or 2 small avocados

  sweet or red onion slices

  baby spinach, lettuce or arugula

  olive oil and lemon juice

  salt, pepper, to taste.

1.      Peel, pit and thinly slice the mango

2.      Peel, pit and thinly slice the avocado

3.      Line the greens on a plate or platter. Arrange over them, the mango and avocado and onion.

4.      Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice, (about 2 tablespoons each, or to taste); season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the melange.

All photos by Carol Guilford

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