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Summer Salad Marathon: Seared Ahi Grapefruit Watercress Salad

Tonight's installment of The Lady of Shallots "Summer Salad Marathon" was inspired by two recipes. The first was this "Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Grapefruit, Avocado, and Watercress Salad" from Real Simple (March 2008). The second was this recipe for Seared Ahi Tuna from SimplyRecipes.com.

I made only one minor adjustment to the tuna marinade, and that was that I used powdered ginger out of necessity. I marinated the tuna for two hours and it was terrific.

As for the salad, I obviously left out the mahi-mahi (and substituted the seared tuna), left out the avocado*, and added fresh chopped cucumber from my neighbor's garden (a gift, not stolen). I used the dressing as stated in the recipe.

This was a terrific and healthy meal for a very hot and humid summer evening. The sweetness of the grapefruit and the honey-lime dressing balances the slight bitterness of the watercress very effectively and is just gentle enough to support the tuna without overshadowing it. The marinade for the tuna, despite the soy sauce, is surprisingly subtle, so you don't want to overdress the salad. I made each plate individually: watercress, cucumber, grapefruit, tuna, then drizzled dressing.

*Heresy, I know, for a California girl, but I'm not a fan of avocado unless it is mashed up with spices and called guacamole or in small chunks in ceviche. Don't hate me.
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