I think we all love a nice, light meal for dinner in the summertime and I can’t wait to share this recipe with you today that fits that bill perfectly. When you want something cold and refreshing and full of protein, this shrimp salad will be the perfect meal to make. The flavors are so bright and fresh and I love how versatile it is. You can eat it on its own, or pair it with crackers, toasted bread, or wrap it in butter lettuce for a great appetizer, snack, lunch or dinner meal.
This recipe has such great flavor and is so easy to throw together. I had never heard of a technique like this, but you get a lot of flavor by cooking your shrimp in water with freshly squeezed lemon juice, black peppercorns and a bay leaf, then you mix the cooked shrimp with mayo, finely diced celery and red onion, Dijon mustard, more lemon juice, fresh dill, celery seed and some salt and pepper. Toss all these ingredients together and dinner is served! You can store it in the fridge for up to one day and as you can imagine, the flavors meld and get even better after several hours in the fridge.
One tip I wanted to share from several reviewers of the recipe was that you can also add some Old Bay seasoning to the water while the shrimp are cooking to bring out the flavor of the shrimp even more. You could also add a dash to the mayo mixture at the end as well.
What should I serve it on? Since this recipe is so versatile, there are a lot of ways you can serve it, depending on your mood and how filling you want it to be.
- Lettuce: You can spoon the salad into a Romaine lettuce leaf or butter lettuce.
- Pasta: You can mix in cooked short pasta for a delicious pasta salad.
- Sandwich: You can add shrimp salad to a toasted and buttered roll with some lettuce.
- Avocado: Spoon your shrimp salad into an avocado half.
- Cucumber: Spoon some shrimp salad on cucumber slices for a perfect party appetizer.
- Puff pastry: Fill cooked puff pastry shells with the salad.
A Few Tips for the Best Shrimp Salad:
- For bite-sized shrimp, use the size bag with 31-40 shrimp, but feel free to get a bag with bigger shrimp in it if you prefer and you can serve them whole or cut into pieces.
- You can use precooked shrimp, but raw shrimp that you cook in the seasonings listed taste the most fresh and have the most flavor.
- You can use dry dill in this recipe, but fresh dill is definitely superior for really bright, fresh flavor.
- Make sure your onion is finely chopped so you don’t have large pieces of onion in each bite. You can also use chopped green onion if you’d like a more mild onion flavor.
What is your favorite light, cold summer salad to make this time of year for a meal? Have you made shrimp salad before? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
This shrimp salad is made with the freshest ingredients and is the perfect entree for an easy summer meal or at your next outdoor BBQ!Author: Author: Cassy Joy Garcia
Yield: Yield: 4 servings
Serving size: 4
Calories per serving: 485
Ingredients:
4 quartswater
1 lemon
10 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 poundsshrimp, shell-on
1/2 cupmayonnaise
1/2 cupcelery, finely diced
1/4 cupred onions, finely diced
2 tablespoonsDijon style mustard
2 tablespoonslemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped (or 2 tsp dry)
1 teaspoonsalt
1/2 teaspooncelery seed
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Directions:
1. Add 4 quarts of water to a large pot over higer heat. Juice the lemon and add the juice plus the lemon wedges, peppercorns, and the bay leaf to the water and bring to a boil. Prep a large bowl with ice to cool the shrimp after cooking.
2. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the shrimp. Simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Drain the shrimp and cool them covered with ice in a large bowl.
4. Once cooled, peel the shrimp by removing the legs, then peeling the shell off and removing the tail. Using a small paring knife, make a small cut alongside the back of the shrimp and remove the dark colored vein, if needed.
5. In a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients and whisk to combine.
6. Add the shrimp to the mayo mix and stir to coat the shrimp.
7. Serve and enjoy! Chill the shrimp salad in the fridge or serve immediately and enjoy.
Source: fedandfit.com
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Sources:
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
