Pistachio Pesto Avocado Salad

Another recipe inspired by Sicily

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Hello friends!

One of the reasons I love travel is all of the food inspiration. At home, we rarely eat out. But when we travel, I love the break from cooking and the endless stream of dishes. Instead, I relish trying new foods, new flavors, new combinations of ingredients I haven’t experienced before. It feeds me, literally and figuratively.

Our trip to Sicily inspired a few recipes I’ve already shared—an Orange Cake and Seared Halibut with Sicilian Sauce. Here’s another one. One evening, we ate at a farm-to-table restaurant in Noto. We ordered the green garden salad with avocado and Sicilian pistachios. It had all the elements of a great salad—crispy, crunchy, creamy, bright and slightly sweet from the pistachios. I took notes as I ate, because I knew I wanted to recreate it at home.

the inspiration salad

If you’ve had dinner at our house lately, I’ve probably made it for you.

The dressing is a pesto-like sauce with ground pistachios, fresh basil, olive oil and lemon. The first time I made it, I added Parmesan cheese and then another time with Pecorino, but I like it better without the cheese. I don’t like raw garlic, but if you do, you could add a very small clove. The sauce comes together quickly in the food processor, and then you just pour it over crisp little gem lettuce and toss. If you can’t find little gem lettuce, be sure to use another sturdy lettuce like romaine, or even radicchio.

With slices of avocado and a shower of chopped pistachios, it’s a perfect salad to serve with dinner. To make it a main course, you could add shredded chicken and/or hard boiled eggs and maybe some halved Sun Gold tomatoes.

I hope you try it, and I hope you love it.

That’s all for today! The recipe is below. Next week, I’ll be back with the last recipe inspired by our travels in Sicily—a gluten-free tomato focaccia. Come back for that one.

Hugs,

Lisa

lisahsamuel

A post shared by @lisahsamuel

Pistachio Pesto Avocado Salad

The original salad in Sicily was heavily dressed, as you might have noticed in the photo. I find that about 7 or 8 ounces of lettuce is perfect, coating every leaf without being soggy. But if you like your salad more lightly dressed, use 10 ounces of lettuce. If you are buying little gem lettuce in a clamshell (like the Organic Girl little gems), one container is 5 ounces. You can watch me make the salad in the Instagram reel above.

Serves 4 to 6

1 cup roasted pistachios, lightly salted, divided

2 ounces of basil, leaves only (about 4 big stems of basil)

good pinch of sea salt

pinch of red pepper flakes

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

zest and juice of one lemon, plus additional zest for garnish

7 to 10 ounces of little gem lettuce leaves (see intro, above)

1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, sliced

flaky salt, like Maldon

freshly ground black pepper

Add 1/3 cup of pistachios to the bowl of a food processor and blend until finely ground. Add the basil leaves and blend again, until the basil is finely chopped. Add the sea salt, red pepper flakes, olive oil, lemon juice and lemon zest. Blend again until the dressing is smooth and creamy. It will be the consistency of pesto. Taste and adjust the salt as necessary. The amount of salt you need depends on the saltiness of your pistachios.

Place the lettuce leaves in a large bowl. Pour the dressing on top and toss the lettuce and dressing together. Using your (clean) hands is the best way to evenly distribute the dressing. Pour the dressed lettuce leaves onto a platter and add the avocado slices. Chop the remaining pistachios and sprinkle them over the salad. Garnish with flaky salt, a few good turns of freshly cracked black pepper and additional lemon zest, if desired. You could also toss in a few additional whole basil leaves, if you have some left over.

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