Fish, Shellfish and Seafood

Shrimp and Avocado Salad, en l’honneur d’Elise

By Jerry ⋅ June 12, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

If you think that food bloggers, even those who generally cook by the seat of their pants, live in a complete vacuum when it comes to recipe inspiration you would be completely mistaken.  When in need of a new concept or glimmer of an idea I turn to the most talented group of recipe wranglers I have ever had the pleasure of associating myself with;  Other food bloggers!  And without a doubt, one of the bloggers who tops the list as a great source of inspiration is Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes.

This recipe is a revamped version of Elise’ Shrimp and Avocado Salad, which was posted on Simply Recipes several years ago and even though it might be an older recipe, it’s still absolutely with the times, full of flavor and could be served at the trendiest foodie get together without feeling out of place.  Of course I made a few modifications to her original recipe, but it’s the nature of any cook to adapt a concept to fit his or her tastes or the tastes of those being served.  In all I’ll give this one a 10, but I still have to blame elise for tempting me with the idea in the first place.

As a temptress, she’s a great muse.  Just don’t blame her for the low quality of this photo.  I was starving!

Shrimp and Avocado Salad
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 lb large shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined
• 1 ripe avocado
• Lettuce or greens of your choice, preferably something fairly soft with a good tooth to it.
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook shrimp and allow to cool.  (I sautéed mine in a bit of olive oil with a dash of Cajun seasoning, a pinch of kosher salt, a sprinkling of dried thyme and some paprika.)

Combine oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic in a medium bowl.  Chop shrimp into bite-sized pieces and add to oil mixture.

Arrange lettuce leaves on serving plates.  Cut avocados in half and remove pits.  Scoop a bit of the avocado from around the pit indentation and mix with shrimp and oil mixture.  With a tablespoon, carefully scoop out avocado halves from their skins in one piece and arrange over lettuce leaves.

Spoon shrimp mixture over avocado, making sure to get a bit of the vinaigrette along with it.  Add salt and a few grinds fresh ground pepper if desired.

Serve and enjoy!

What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:

I used endive as my greens for this salad but I found it a bit too chewy for my tastes.  While I love endive, I’ll probably mix it in with some romaine next time around for a better texture.

Aside from that, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this dish.  It’s fantastic, and I guarantee I’ll be making it again for as long as avocados are in season!

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