Warm weather again! During this terrible pandemic I have done a lot of cooking, but no blogging … I just consistently have low motivation these days. But the warm weather and the (somewhat) opening up of the world around me in the month of May has at last nudged me to try a new blog post. A healthy, lemony salad for spring!
I remember Shrimp Louie from my childhood as a sweet, heavy, gloppy mess, but this salad is light and refreshing — with none of the more traditional dressing ingredients like ketchup or sugar. (Seriously, why would you put ketchup on a salad?) I combined the best aspects of recipes I found on goop.com and epicurious.
You can use fresh or frozen, raw or previously cooked shrimp. This recipe is designed for dinner – for a lunch-size portion you may want to reduce the amount of shrimp and/or avocado.
If you like spicy, kick in some extra Tabasco! Super yummy.
INGREDIENTS
Dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp diced shallot or yellow onion
1 tbsp capers, drained and roughly chopped
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 large (or 1 whole med to small) lemon, zested and juiced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Shrimp
3/4 lb large shrimp, deveined, shelled, tail off (fresh or frozen, raw or cooked)
1/2 tsp Tabasco
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Salad
1 small head butter lettuce
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, sliced
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
Croutons (optional)
DIRECTIONS
If using frozen shrimp, defrost according to package directions. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels.
In a medium bowl, combine the dressing ingredients, mixing well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate about 20-30 minutes, to let the flavors combine.
In a large zippered storage bag, place the shrimp, 1/2 tsp Tabasco, garlic, olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Seal the bag and refrigerate 20-30 minutes. For raw shrimp: grill or saute the shrimp after it has marinated, cooking until the shrimp is pink.
Assemble the salads:
Layer the lettuce in the bottom of two large salad bowls. Leaving room in the middle for the shrimp, arrange the tomatoes, avocado, eggs and croutons in a circle.
Pour the shrimp into the bowl of dressing; fold with a large spoon until the shrimp is completely coated. Divide shrimp between the two salad bowls and lightly season the salads, if needed, with salt and pepper.
Healthy, EZ, Yummy! 