Grilled Pineapple, Chicken and Avocado Salad
Grilled Pineapple, Chicken and Avocado Salad
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ThisGrilled Pineapple, Chicken & Avocado Salad mail is sponsored by the California Avocado Committee.
A few weeks ago, I arrived home from the well-nigh wonderful trip to California with a suitcase chock with…….avocados. Loads of flossy, delicious, California avocados. (Ane of which I picked!!)
Needless to say, all of these avocados made for an interesting journeying through aerodrome security. But when I arrived dwelling, they made an evenimprove addition to this grilled pineapple and chicken salad! Information technology turned out to be absolutely delightful! Definitely a wonderful pairing of summer flavors and that magical impact that comes from the grill.
Just before I go to the salad, I would love to share some stories and photos with you from my trip!
It all began a few weeks ago when I received an invitation from the California Avocado Commission to come up to LA with a few other bloggers to learn more well-nigh all things avocados. Being that I amobsessed a huge fan of all things avocados, and have become especially enamored with California avocados after tasting them for the outset fourth dimension a few months agone at the Big Traveling Potluck, I said yes in a heartbeat! :)
Then I hopped on a plane and began the journey back to California for the second time in a few months — such a treat!
It turned out that Kristen (from Dine & Dish) was booked on the same flights from Kansas City, and so it was fun to become some extra time with her. (If you oasis't always checked out her thoughtful blog and gorgeous Instagram feed, y'all must!!
When we arrived in LA, we met up with the other bloggers at our home sugariness home for the week — The Millenium Biltmore.
This celebrated downtown hotel, nigh 90 years onetime now, was pretty muchballsy. From the improvident "archetype European-styled" lobbies, to the historic details in each room, to the Romanesque swimming puddle, to the dandy selection of restaurants and more than — we had then much fun exploring the hotel and making ourselves at dwelling!
Afterward a 24-hour interval of long flights, the first four of united states to get in — Kristen, Dara, Rachel and I — debated between restaurants and ended up opting for "Sushi Night" in the Cognac Room at the hotel. And I'thou pretty sure we were all thrilled that we did. The sushi was absolutely incredible, as were the martinis and fresh margaritas.
And of course "when in LA", we definitely celebrated with a few California rolls with fresh California avocados. PER-fection.
The side by side morning we woke upwardly early to drive out of town for our kickoff stop — an avocado grove bout!
Nosotros were greeted by Jim Lloyd Butler (the admirer rocking the hat above) and his family, whom nosotros all immediately loved. Born and raised in Oxnard, Jim is a 5th generation farmer who is deeply passionate about avocados, and about caring for the country and people around him. He has devoted his lifetime to all things agriculture, and was passionate about all things "sustainable" fashion before it became so trendy. In fact, he has won awards for his work in stewardship, sustainability and leadership in agronomical management, and the fruit of this labor (quite literally) is evident all over his beautiful farm. Their subcontract alone produces over i.3 1000000 California avocados per year – incredible!
More than anything, I think I well-nigh loved seeing the twinkle in Jim's eye when he talked about his favorite fruit. When I asked if he had any favorite avocado recipes, he quite just said with a smile that he but loves to swallow one-half of an avocado apparently for lunch,maybe with a little salt. "They're best that mode," he said. :)
After touring diverse parts of the farm to see some of the dissimilar avocado plants, we went into the center of a grove to come across some of the workers harvesting. Coming from the land of wheat combines and tractors, information technology was pretty fascinating to see the avocado plants upwards close and person, and see the workers carefully harvesting each fruit by manus.
Some of the workers were perched on ladders high upwardly in the trees dropping individual avocados into large satchels that could each hold up to 100 pounds of avocados. But others used this super long pole with clippers on the finish that allowed you to reach way higher up your head to snip off an avocado. Each of the states took a turn trying to make information technology happen, and allow me tell ya — it took way more coordination than I expected! Those workers sure get in look like a breeze. :)
A few fun facts about avocados that I learned along the style:
1) Avocados do not ripen on the vine. They exercise not begin ripening at all until harvested. But perhaps the bigger shock is that they can stay on the vine for even upward to a year — just chillaxin' in the California sun — until the farmer decides that information technology is time to harvest. Then if weather complications come up up or the crop may not exist as strong year-round, farmers take flexibility with when to harvest. Definitely a huge change from the farmers in Kansas right now who are racing to harvest some of their crops before they pass their due dates!
two) Farmers love their iPhones.Yep, while we were Instagram-ing away, one of the farmers — Jason — was tracking the irrigation levels on his farmvia his iPhone! Yep, it turns out that there are all sorts of great apps for modern farming which really assist monitor and measure all sorts of unlike things on the subcontract.
three) Non all avocado trees look alike. Some that we saw were modest bushes, some looked more than similar grape plants on a vineyard, and some were huge enormous trees! The Hass diverseness still holds the panthera leo'due south share of the market, only many other varieties are starting to grow in popularity. And so keep an middle out for new avocados coming your fashion soon!
4) Baby avocados are called — go fix — "babies". These tiny little plants were absolutely ambrosial, and hung on the same copse equally mature avocados that were ready for harvesting.
5) You know those footling nighttime spots you sometimes run across on avocados? Those are the error ofhumans mishandling avocados. They do non naturally abound with those spots. Yes, avocados tin become "sunburned" when the skin gets a footling singed in the sun (although this does not usually bear on the fruit inside). Merely about of those lilliputian spots you might meet are due to humans poking avocados incorrectly to see if they are ripe. More than virtually this to come…
6) 4th of July is the biggest avocado consumption 24-hour interval of the year. Non Cinco de Mayo, not the Superbowl, but the mean solar day celebrating all things 'Merica!
Overall, it was a wonderful morning time with Jim and his crew, and a corking morning spent with our team! Shawn arrived late the night before, bringing out tour total at this point to five cute bloggers. From left to correct, our grouping included Shawn (I Wash You Dry), me, Dara (Cookin' Canuck), Kristen (Dine & Dish) and Rachel (A Southern Fairytale). I seriously couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, fun, hilarious, talented, smart, and avocado-loving group of gals to get to spend time with. They are amazing!
After our bout, you'd better believe nosotros were hungry toeat some avocados. And my oh my — our tiffin did non disappoint.
We were lucky to go to spend a relaxing long dejeuner at the Tierra Sur eating house within Herzog Wine Cellars. Chef Gabriel Garcia fabricated us an exquisite four-course dejeuner celebrating his self-proclaimed favorite fruit — the avocado. And believe it or not, the avocados he brought us were really those from his backyard. What a chef!
We had a great time savoring his delicious menu, and took lots of inspiration from the way he so creatively wove avocados into his dishes. Give thanks you lot, Chef!
After lunch, it was time to meet the next stage of the life of an avocado — the packing plant.
We all donned our wonderfully attractive hairnets (food prophylactic beginning!), and headed into the manufacturing plant for a bout.
Food packing plants ever impress me with their attending to the tiniest of details, and this plant was no exception. They havefarthermost care to be sure that the avocados are handled with utmost sensitivity, and that they are cleaned, packaged and shipped as efficiently as possible to guarantee maximum freshness.
By the time they reach these crates to be shipped to grocery stores and suppliers all over the world, I saw with my own eyes that you actually can trust that these avocados are going to be the best they can be.
Although as I mentioned above, perhaps the greatest damage to avocados actually happens on the shelves at the grocery shop.
Whenever we saw farmers or workers handle the avocados to test for freshness, our group immediately noticed that they did not poke the avocados all over with their fingers. But instead, they cupped the avocado in the palms of their hands and gave an oh-and then-gentle clasp to run across if there was whatever give. This method is the correct to examination your avocados. Otherwise, the places where y'all squeeze your fingers volition more than likely leave dark spots inside the fruit.
Now I know. And now y'all know. :)
After our tour, we were taken for even soanother gourmet avocado dinner, this time at Industriel. This cracking downtown restaurant with its eclectic decor specializes in simple, pure, flavorful dishes with roots in the Provençal tradition, just with modern LA attitude. Or as their website says, they serve up urban farm cuisine in the style served upward by your grandmother in her farmhouse in Provence, France, with one little twist: Your grandmother has sleeve tattoos.
Whatever their manner, the food at this eating place was fresh, creative, andcrazy good. I had the risk to sit at the terminate of the tabular array with Shawn and Chung-Ah (from Damn Succulent), who joined united states for the second one-half of the trip. I so enjoyed our chat!
The next morn, we set off from our hotel to walk to Border Grill. But on the way, the lilliputian tourist in me has to signal out that we walked past a high-speed police hunt scene beingness filmed. Thank y'all L.A., that tin can now be checked off my saucepan list. ;)
(Although information technology turns out it was for a Nike commercial, instead of the next Bourne Identity…)
When we arrived at Border Grill, we were immediately welcomed past chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the Too Hot Tamales.
Earlier we had the chance to watch these glory chefs practice their thing, they surpriseduspast introducing a little surprise for the 20 or so local food bloggers who were gathered there for the event — a cooking competition! The main ingredient of class was avocados, and the challenge was to create a fresh and creative avocado pasta dish to be judged by the chefs themselves.
Yous know, no pressure. ;)
I teamed up with Chung-Ah and Kristin (from The Cuisinerd), and we raced to see what delicious dish we could create from the 50+ extra ingredients they had on mitt. Since it seems like avocados are just beginning to catch on in the Asian cuisine scene, we decided to add together in some soy, mango, lime, jalapeno, sesame oil and seeds, and probably a few other things I am forgetting. And yeah, nosotros named the dish Guac-Wok.
After, um, barely getting a risk to even gustation the dish, ours was submitted with all of the others for gustatory modality-testing past the chefs themselves. I loved seeing the inventive ways that all of the groups used their avocados! And then many new ideas I desire to endeavour at habitation…
After the competition, nosotros all settled in to watch a cooking demo from the chefs featuring all sorts of avocado-inspired dishes. And then even better, nosotros had the adventure to sampleeverything. From some stunning cumin ribs, to Mexican street corn, to sweet fruity sangria, to salads, desserts and more than, information technology was clear that these chefs pour their heart and soul into their cooking. And goodness — does it come up through! Such a treat to larn from these women, and sense of taste the food that brings them joy.
After a wonderful weekend, the time finally arrived to say farewell to the California avocado groves and head back to the plains of Kansas.
Only I've been excited to discover that some California avocados are becoming available in our local grocery stores here in KC! (Locals — check out Trader Joe's and Hy-Vee.) Then y'all don't take to go to California to detect avocados grown on sunny American soil. Just be sure to bank check the niggling stickers on the avocados. And if there is a Cali sticker, you can now know a little more about where these come from after reading this mail service! :)
Ooooook. Speaking of avocados, it's most time that I go to the concern of this beautiful Grilled Pineapple, Chicken and Avocado Salad that I teased y'all with at the start of the post. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
To be honest, I arrived home later our trip in California feeling very inspired…andfull.
Don't go me incorrect. I enjoyed every last bite of each of those four- and 5-course meals. But upon returning home, I was fix for a salad. You lot know that feeling later on a trip??
Needless to say, this yummy sweet salad completely hit the spot. If grilled pineapple and avocado are included in a dish, I'm usually already sold. Merely the addition of the fresh blueberries, feta cheese and garlicky vinaigrette made this salad even meliorate than I had dreamed. Such a fresh, colorful, and fantastic salad that pretty much screams summertime!
Thanks and then much for following along with my avocado adventures. And be certain to cheque our Dara and Chung-Ah's posts near the trip as well to hear their stories and check out some more than delicious avocado recipes.
Huge thank you to the California Avocado Commission for inviting me to join along! I'm excited to exist partnering with them this yr to bring you many more than great recipes to come.
Thank you to all things avocados!
Clarification
This Grilled Pineapple, Craven and Avocado Salad celebrates the best of summer!
Salad Ingredients:
- two boneless skinless craven breasts
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- common salt and pepper
- 1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into 1-inch thick rings
- 8 cups baby spinach
- one cup fresh blueberries
- i avocado, peeled, pitted and diced (I prefer California avocados)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- quarter of a red onion, thinly sliced
- honey garlic vinaigrette
Beloved Garlic Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- 3/iv cup avocado oil(or any balmy-flavored oil)
- 1/4 cup apple tree cider vinegar
- three Tbsp. dearest
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- pinch of salt and black pepper
To Make The Salad:
- Brush the craven on both sides with olive oil, then season generously with common salt and pepper.
- Preheat your outdoor grill to medium-high, or rut a grill pan over med-high rut. Place pineapple slices and craven breasts on the grill. Melt for most 5 minutes per side or until the craven is cooked through, and no longer pink on the inside. Remove pineapple and chicken and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Then slice chicken into strips, and cutting pineapple into chunks.
- In a big basin, toss together spinach, blueberries, feta, reddish onion, pineapple and chicken until combined. Drizzle or toss with salad dressing, and serve immediately
To Make The Vinaigrette:
- Whisk all ingredients together until blended. Let sit for at least 10 minutes for flavors to meld. Whisk once again until blended, then drizzle over salad.
Disclaimer: This is a compensated mail past the California Avocado Commission. They covered an all-expense paid trip to California to visit the avocado groves and acquire more most where our avocados come from, and information technology was an amazing experience. All opinions are 100% my own as e'er. Cheers for allowing me to share with you nearly brands I beloved that aid support this site. A few of the California photos are also courtesy of the California Avocado Committee — thanks for snapping some great pics!
Source: https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/grilled-pineapple-chicken-and-avocado-salad/
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