Layered salad with croutons and avocado lime aioli

ingredients

• Croutons

  • 3 cup stale crusty bread cut into 2cm cubes
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3 tablespoon oil

• Salad

  • 1 iceberg lettuce, leaves torn
  • 1 punnet red cherry tomatoes, halved (or 4 red vine tomatoes, diced)
  • 1 punnet yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 packet baby spinach leaves
  • 2 red capsicums, deseeded and chopped
  • 2 yellow or orange capsicums, deseeded and chopped
  • 1 red-leaf lettuce such as red oak leaf, leaves torn

• Dressing

  • 3/4 cup aioli
  • 1/4 cup greek yoghurt
  • 1 lime, zest and juice
  • 2 ripe avocados, halved, stones removed, peeled

method

• Croutons

  • 1

    Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place bread cubes in a bowl. Mix the garlic into the oil and drizzle over the bread, tossing quickly to distribute the oil.

  • 2

    Tip the cubes into a metal baking pan and bake for 15–20 minutes until golden, stirring once or twice. When cool, season lightly with salt and store in an airtight container until needed.

• Salad

  • 1

    To assemble the salad, line the base of your serving dish with a layer of iceberg lettuce and compact it with the back of a serving spoon to level the edges. Add a layer of a contrasting vegetable, such as tomato, focusing on the edges rather than the middle.

  • 2

    Add a layer of baby spinach, a layer of a colourful vegetable such as red or orange capsicum, then a layer of red oak leaf lettuce, and so on, until you have filled your serving dish.

  • 3

    Just before serving, pile on the croutons and spoon the avocado dressing (see method below) on top – if you do this too far ahead the croutons will become soggy. If taking the salad to an event, assemble it ahead of time, except for the croutons and dressing, and add those just before serving.

• Dressing

  • 1

    In a bowl, whisk together the aioli, yoghurt and lime zest. Cut the avocado into chunks, dress lightly with lime juice, then fold the avocado through the aioli to make a chunky dressing.