Avocado and Feta with Lemon-Cumin Dressing

Dressing:
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. Pommery (French whole-grain) mustard
1/4 tsp. chopped garlic
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:
4 small heads romaine, outer leaves removed and discarded, inner leaves cut into julienne strips
5 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 avocados

To make the lemon-cumin dressing: Place all the ingredients except the oil in a blender and blend on high until combined. With the blender on "stir," add the oil in a slow, steady stream and blend for about 15 seconds, until combined.

To make the salad: Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl except the avocados. Toss with about 1/3 cup of the dressing, adding more to taste if desired. Divide the salad among 6 salad plates.

Peel, pit, and quarter the avocados, then cut each quarter, leaving it attached at the top, into thin slices. "Fan" the avocado slices, spreading them carefully on one side of each plate. (If you prefer, you can chop the avocados and add an equal amount to each salad.) Pour some of the remaining dressing into a bowl to spoon over the avocado.

Serves 6.

From a Newman's Own cookbook, title unknown, p. 27.