Crab, Avocado & Mango Salad

We love this salad! Mangoes and avocado topped with crab and sweet Chile vinaigrette; what's not to love, especially in summer.

Kids have been done with school for over a week but tonight was both of our "official" eve before our summer vacation began. We felt a semi-celebration was in order & this salad was on our mind knowing we had crab in the fridge waiting to be eaten.

Several years ago my dad took G&I out to Thai food and this was a salad that he had ordered that we were both jealous that we didn't. Since that one night out we've tried to replicate it many times. Here's our most recent attempt:

These ingredients with a little leftover crab from Caribbean night make for a great dinner.

Sometimes we do this over a bed of greens, sometimes just the mango & avocado it just depends on our mood I suppose. Tonight it was over a combo of arugula & spinach.

We typically just slice the avocado & mango and layer it as the base top it with the crab and then make a vinaigrette using sweet Chile sauce (we use Mae Ploy brand.)

The dressing is key to the flavor though.

We cooked our last batch of lobster & shitake pot stickers from the freezer that we had made awhile back to complete our meal.

We opened a special bottle of wine; Pinot Gris from Cooper which we visited on Red Mountain, on of our favorite Washington AVA's, during our last Tri-Cities wine weekend.

It was our last winery stop on Saturday of our trip and either we loved his wines or we were "very" happy after a day of tasting. I think it was a bit of both personally. But we generally never spend this much on white varietals so I think the "happy" adjective played a part in the purchase I'm sure. Regardless it's a great wine to celebrate with.

We were a bit disappointed on this evening that it was a bit too cold to eat outside on the patio. Instead we set the table inside for our summer "inspired" meal at least.

We know we love this salad, the pot stickers and the wine so we knew we were in for a treat.

We weren't disappointed in our meal at ALL.

Recipe:

Thai Crab Salad with Mango & Avocado Recipe:

1 ripe mango, sliced

2 ripe avocado, sliced

2 Cups Greens of your choice

1 Cup lump crab meat

1/4 C. Sweet Chile Sauce

1/4 C. Rice vinegar

4 T. fresh squeeze lime juice

Salt & Pepper

Cilantro, chopped for garnish

Layer avocado & mango over the greens. Top with crab meat. Mix vinaigrette: Chile sauce, vinegar, lime juice, salt & pepper. Dress with vinaigrette or serve on side. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.