It was sad, another casualty of our times, to see the last issue of Gourmet Magazine on the November 2009, newsstands. Gourmet was so much more than a magazine brimming with great recipes. Perusing the glossy pages filled with stunning photography, readers travelled the world discovering a tapestry of people and places through their unique culture of food.

Many of their recipes, fortunately, live on through the internet. My friend Alecia just sent me a recipe from a "Gourmet" magazine from January, 2004. She noted avocados and grapefruit are regularly on sale at this time of the year.

Alecia thought I'd appreciate it, and with grapefruit so sweet and plentiful in January, she was right!

The original recipe calls for lobster instead of shrimp and arugula instead of spinach. I made some other adjustments according to my cooking style and the contents of my pantry.

It takes additional time to peel, devein and cook shrimp but I always make the effort because the end result tastes so much better than shrimp you'd buy pre-cooked. Sometimes I boil the shrimp in the shell for additional flavor but, for me, it's more difficult to devein. When large shell-on shrimp are on sale, I buy a couple of bags, purchasing them frozen if possible; the freezing process begins on board minutes after the shrimp are caught.

For this recipe I cooked large (10/15 count) thawed shrimp in rapidly boiling water, which was seasoned with bay leaves and Old Bay seasoning, for 2-3 minutes.

For many of us, "Gourmet" magazines are now dated material filling cardboard boxes. We can't bare to recycle them because somehow we know we'll find just the right recipe for just the right occasion within their glossy covers.

YIeld: 2 servings Macerate (soak) Time (optional): 30 minutes Active Time: 30 minutes (if cooking shrimp) Cost: apx. $ 10.00 (using ad item shrimp)

Ingredients

1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice plus lemon zest for garnish, if desired 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 pink or ruby-red grapefruit 1 firm-ripe avocado 4 cups baby spinach, washed and spun dry 6-8 large cooked shrimp

Directions

1. If time allows, macerate (soak) shallot in lemon juice with a pinch of kosher salt, 30 minutes. Add oil in a stream, whisking. Pour half dressing over shrimp and let shrimp sit, to absorb flavors, as you prepare the salad. 2. Cut peel, including all white pith, from grapefruit with a sharp knife. Cut segments free from membranes. 3. Halve avocado lengthwise, discarding pit. Cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. 4. Divide spinach between two plates and drizzle leaves with remaining dressing. Divide avocado and shrimp on top of spinach and arrange grapefruit around spinach leaves.