Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella Stack with Mango-Cilantro Dressing

My next door neighbor told me once (in her delightful British accent) that she hates when she makes a recipe that calls for some particular ingredient, say cilantro, and you only use a bit of it. But when you are at the supermarket you can't just buy a bit of it you need to buy the whole bunch. What are you to do with all the leftover cilantro?

My most recent recipe was for a grilled scallop salad that was drizzled with a cilantro dressing. Well, I had quite a bit of leftover cilantro and when I bought the mangoes they were 3 for $4.00 So I have one of those left as well. In the interest of not wasting food I thought I would put something together that would make good use of the leftovers.

This salad calls for fresh mozzarella. I am fortunate enough to have a (super) supermarket that makes mozzarella cheese fresh right in front of you in the store (it's quite fun to watch). When I bought it the other day it was still warm and wrapped up right in front of me...it melts in your mouth. Basically what I'm trying to say is try if you can to get fresh mozzarella cheese, the texture is just so much better than the prepackaged variety and worth the bit extra you may have to spend.

I thought of this after I ate the salad, but it would have been really good with thin slices of the mango added. The mango in the dressing really made this salad pop-I hope you think so too.

Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella Stack with Mango-Cilantro Dressing

1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

2 Large tomatoes, thinly sliced

8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Coarse salt, such as French Grey salt or sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Dressing:

1/4 cup diced mango

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Fan 4 slices of avocado on each of four salad plates. Layer the tomato and mozzarella cheese (you can add a bit of dressing between each layer if you would like) on top of the avocado, evenly dividing and ending with tomato. Fan 2 small slices of avocado on top of the tomato. Sprinkle each salad with the cilantro and drizzle with a generous amount of the dressing. Season each with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

For the dressing: combine the mango, lime juice, olive oil, shallot, cilantro, salt and pepper in a blender container or small food processor; blend until smooth.

Yield: 4 stacks