This salad is quick and easy, yet positively luxurious, featuring three of California’s best ingredients this time of year. Any kind of grapefruit will work. Pink or Ruby Red offer sweetness and a pop of color that compliments the rosy hue of the crab, but white has a sharper acidity that cuts through the richness of the avocado. Don’t be afraid of the chili pepper; removing the seeds and veins renders it more docile, adding only a pleasant tingle and freshness.

• 1 large grapefruit, cut into supremes and segments cut in half crosswise (see note)

• 1 large avocado, diced

• 1/2 lb. lump Dungeness crab meat

• 1/2 jalapeño or serrano chili, seeded and deveined, minced (optional)

• 1 shallot or spring onion, minced

• Juice of 1 lime

• Salt

• Black pepper

• Olive oil

Combine the grapefruit, avocado, crab, chili (if using), and shallot or onion in a large bowl. Add the lime juice, a good pinch of salt and black pepper, and a slug of olive oil. Gently combine the ingredients, being careful not to mash the avocado. Taste and adjust salt as needed. Chill well up to two hours in advance.

Note: Cutting citrus into supremes sounds fancy, but it’s really quite easy. Cut the top and bottom off just enough to expose the flesh. Set on one of the cut sides, and run your knife down the sides, following the curve of the fruit, to cut away the rind. Trim away any pieces of white pith that remain. Hold the peeled citrus in your palm over a bowl, and — carefully! — run a knife along either side of each membrane, allowing the freed segments to fall into the bowl. When all the segments have been cut away, squeeze the membranes to extract all the juice, and discard them. Strain off the segments to use for this recipe, and enjoy the juice separately.