Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Love at first site!

My sister, her daughter-in-law, her 2 grandsons and son and two of our grandsons from Austin came to visit and even though I’ve had a couple of months to plan my menus I get down to the wire on what I want to have for the week — burgers (✓), BBQ (✓), teppanyaki steak on my new grill top bought for outdoor kitchen (✓), homemade pizza on our Kamoto Jo smoker (✓), and maybe some mussels for lunch one day (✓ didn’t get around to) and cook those in a new contraption we have for the grill (a basket you can either fry in, steam in or boil in and it will be perfect for mussels. (Will do the mussels another time this summer.)

I needed just one more dinner and when I was browsing Pinch of Yum’s blog this shrimp avocado bowl just jumped off the computer and I immediately knew what I was going to add to the mix — some oranges, some roasted walnuts, toasted sesame seeds and some cilantro and green onions for garnish. The miso dressing was so good on this salad.

We spent the week with the kids in the pool, made a trip to the Space Center in Houston, black light golf, water park, more swimming, more cooking, shopping, bike riding and first time at a skateboard park. It was great seeing the second-cousins having a great time together.

This is a great summer meal and you could substitute, some grilled tuna, grilled chicken if you don’t want the shrimp; but the shrimp was delicious. Hope you will give this a try, if you have any other ideas for add-ons let me know in the comment section below.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: This Spicy Sesame Tuna Bowl is a recipe I recreated after having it at Bonefish Grill last year.

Most of the ingredients except for the shrimp, avocado and greens.

Slice cucumbers about 1/2″ thick and then cut into fourths.

Mix the ginger, oils, lime juice, honey, garlic and salt together in a bowl.

Add in all the other ingredients for the dressing along with a pinch of cayenne pepper to taste and puree in a food processor or mini blender until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Add the seasoned shrimp to grill top or do in pan the way the directions tell you to do it. We did on our flat top griddle outside. 

We cooked these until pink in color then removed from heat. I didn’t want the shrimp hot on the salad so we let cool down before making the bowls.

I tried divided each bowl into fourths — cucumber, avocado, shrimp and the chopped baby spinach/kale mixture, then I went back and filled in with the mandarin oranges, red onions and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Drizzle with the miso dressing and serve.

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

2017-03-19 09:22:50

Serves 4

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

For the salad

1. 1 teaspoon minced garlic
2. 1 1/2 pound raw shrimp, shelled, tails removed
3. ½ tablespoon butter
4. ½ teaspoon chili powder
5. ¼ teaspoon cayenne
6. 1½ cups sliced avocados (2 small)
7. 1 cucumber
8. 4 cups chopped spinach or baby kale
9. 1 cup mandarin oranges, canned or fresh
10. 1/2-3/4 c. of toasted chopped walnuts, optional
11. 2-3 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
12. fresh chopped cilantro for topping
13. peanuts for topping
14. For The Dressing: (Changed Pinch of Yum's dressing)
15. 1 tsp. grated fresh peeled ginger
16. 2 tablespoons oil, peanut or grapeseed
17. 1 Tbsp. dark sesame oil
18. 4 tsp. rice wine vinegar
19. 4 tsp. lime juice
20. 1-2 Tbsp. honey
21. pinch cayenne pepper, optional
22. 1½ tablespoons white miso paste
23. 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt, optional
24. 1 tsp. minced garlic
25. ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet until lightly browned and then remove from pan, set aside and then do the same with the walnuts.
2. Puree all the dressing ingredients together in a food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust to your preferences and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Heat the butter in a small skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and shrimp; sprinkle with the chili powder and cayenne pepper. Saute for a few minutes on each side until the shrimp are no longer clear and have a nice golden color on the outside.
4. Peel and slice the avocado and then cut into large chunks. (I usually run under cold water.) Peel and dice the cucumber. Chop the spinach or baby kale into small bite sized pieces.
5. I kind of visually divide the bowl into fourths and arrange the shrimp in 1/4, the cucumber, avocado and greens in the other 1/4's. Scatter with the mandarin oranges or put all in one section like the other ingredients. Top with some of the red onion slivers, sesame seeds and drizzle with the miso dressing.
6. Pour some dressing over the salad and serve immediately (or store the individual parts separately in the refrigerator until ready to serve). Top with fresh cilantro and walnuts for crunch and sprinkle lightly with the sesame seeds.

Notes

1. I added some toasted walnuts and also some mandarin oranges to the salad and a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds. For the dressing I used some of the ingredients from Pinch of Yum and then some from a New York Times recipe for Miso dressing.

Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Rosemary and the Goat https://rosemaryandthegoat.com/