International Cooking Series: Brazil, Salada de Palmitos
Our first international adventure takes us to Brazil for Salada de Palmitos. Like many popular salads, this salad's recipe varies by chef. We surveyed several recipes and as far as we can tell, the staple ingredients are: heart of palm, tomato, onion and a lime based vinaigrette. We chose to recreate this recipe from A Spicy Perspective.
Salada de Palmitos is a pretty assortment of colorful vegetables, enhanced with a punchy vinaigrette. Two ingredients stand out: thinly sliced fennel and the heart of palm. We were trying heart of palm for the first time, and we found it to be a unique experience – soft, brine-y, and reminiscent of an artichoke heart, yet distinctly lighter in flavor. Its subtle background flavor lifts the whole salad.
Ingredients
Salad:
14 ounces hearts of palm
12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes
1 fennel bulb
1 avocado
1/2 small red onion
1/4 cup chopped mint
Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon honey
Salt and pepper
Step 1
Halve the tomatoes. Slice the onion and fennel bulb as thinly as possible. Slice the heart of palm a little less thinly (4-5mm slices). Chop the mint finely and toss all the ingredients into a bowl.
Step 2
Mix together all the vinaigrette ingredients.
Step 3
Cut avocado into half inch pieces and add to bowl. "Why did we make this a separate step from step 1?" you ask? Because the avocado will turn brown quickly without the lime juice in the vinaigrette. Depending on how quickly you chop the other vegetables and make your vinaigrette, there might be enough oxidation to start the browning.
Step 4
Combine the vinaigrette and the salad, and it's ready to eat!
Our thoughts
We loved this salad. It's so light and filling. For us, the fennel and heart of palm are not typical vegetables to find in a salad. We enjoyed the deviation from the norm, and are interested in trying more recipes with these ingredients. Heart of palm was tricky for us to find, so we would substitute artichoke hearts in a pinch (although, way less, because artichoke has a stronger flavor).
