2 Delicious, Fresh and Bright Salads: Lebanese and French

Both of these salads are soo flavorful and absolutely delicious. I can't begin to tell you how bright and fresh the avocado tastes served with a basic infused lemon olive oil (which is surprisingly super simple to do at home).

Why not serve these two salads with a french inspired gourmet pasta? We took thin angel hair pasta quickly boiled it and made a homemade sauce of tuna, onion, garlic, creme fraiche, tomato, butter and shrimp. It was perfect. I really had never thought of creme fraiche and tuna before but they worked perfectly together.

Of course don't forget to finish the meal with a nice bottle of wine from Bordeaux and a moelleux au chocolat with farm fresh strawberries and french vanilla ice cream. Sounds like a great little Sat or Sunday lunch, right?

Here is the repas in french...

Avocat hache, citron, ail et huile d'olive servis dans son ecorce. Aussi une salade libanese avec tomate, citron, et persile et pates oceane mixte-de ton, onion, creme fraiche et a sauce de tomate, beure, et crevettes....

Instructions

Avocado salad with lemon olive oil

Make homemade lemon olive oil for the avocado. Use a bright fresh and flavorful extra virgin olive oil if you have it. Zest 1 lemon into the oil and then squeeze a few tablespoons into the mixture. Stir and reserve. Cleanly scoop out the insides of 2 avocados and reserve the shells to serve the salad in. Roughly mix up the avocado in a bowl and add salt and pepper. Add the lemon olive oil to the bowl. Scoop the avocado back into the shell to present and serve. Style with a sprig of fresh dill! Voila...

Lebanese Tomato and Parsley Salad

Chop up a few tomatoes and a handful of parsely. Throw tomatoes and parsley into a bowl and dress with a squeeze of fresh lemon, olive oil, salt + Pepper, and half of clove of fresh finely diced garlic. Serve.

Pasta avec a sauce homemade sauce of tuna, onion, garlic, creme fraiche, tomato, butter and shrimp

Boil some water in a large pot. In a fry pan begin to slowly cook a finely sliced onion with a tablespoon or so of butter. When onions are soft and translucent add the can tuna, then the creme fraiche and small can of tomato puree. Lastly add the shrimp to the pan and cook for 4 minutes making sure the shrimp are cooked (but not tough). Drain the thin angel hair pasta and pour in the sauce pan to coat completely (a good trick to really cover your pasta in sauce). Use a fork to create pretty high rounds of pasta on each plate. Top with some freshly grated Parmesan.

Moelleux au Chocolat

5 eggs

150g dark chocolate (70%)

150g butter (2/3 cup)

65 g flour (1/2 cup)

50 g sugar (1/4 cup)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 390 F or 200c

2. Melt butter and add sugar and whip together

3. Add eggs

4. Heat chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water until melted thoroughly

5. Add chocolate to bowl of butter and sugar and slowly add flour

6. Grease a large tarte pan with butter and add flour to make sure it doesn't stick. Pour in batter.

7. Bake for 20 mins in the oven. Check it to make sure the middle has not cooked. Remove when the middle is still a bit wiggly and looks pretty raw. Serve immediately with the ice cream or creamy gelato and farm fresh strawberries!