Cucumber, Shrimp, Avocado Salad inspired by Melissa Clark
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Recipes are back (at least for this week anyway). It has been a wicked busy summer and I took a big posting break.
Writing and sending recipes is a great learning opportunity for my busy brain always hungry to learn something new, but holy shit, it is a lot of detail work. This will explain why the picture of this week's delicious refreshing salad is so terrible. I almost forgot to take it so it does not do this incredible meal justice.
One of my favorite days of the week is Wednesdays for no other reason than then NYT Food section is available for my hungry eyes searching for a new recipe to make either for dinner or for the weekend meal.
My partner and I seldom go out to dinner; we enjoy making our own meals, hanging out on his front porch or my back deck depending on what house we have landed in for the evening. We both love to cook (and eat) and we have an open minded palette.
I have some favorite cookbook authors and Melissa Clark, who writes for the NYT, is one of my favorites. Her recipes are always easy to follow; I read her columns before I read the recipes because I enjoy her writing style as much as her meals.
When I come across her name in a recipe a sense of calm excitement enters my cooking mind. I know that it will be easy to follow and delicious. Melissa has never let me down in any of her recipes and the one I am sharing today is mostly Melissa’s with some additions by me. I am including the link to the NYT if you don’t have a subscription, you may not be able to access it, but when I did the search on my laptop it came up easily.
Anyway, here is my version. Mine adds a few ingredients which proved delicious, but Melissa’s is easier to make as it has less ingredients than my version.
It takes about 30 minutes to make and easily feeds 4. I always make more when I am cooking so Michael and I can have it for lunch the next day.
EXCITING NEW FEATURE! Look at the little PRINT button on the right corner of the PREP TIME info below!
Cucumber, Shrimp, Avocado Salad, inspired by Melissa Clark
30 min
5 min
4
Lunch or Dinner
NYT, Melissa Clark
Ingredients
- 3 cucumbers peeled and cut in half crosswise and then sliced lengthwise
- 1 pound of jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined and chopped in 1/2 large bite size pieces. (I buy the frozen at Andrades Catch and thaw)
- 2 avocados peeled and cut into small bite size chunks
- 1 large delicious ripe tomato, chopped into bite size pieces (if they aren’t in season, leave this out)
- 1 cup of fresh corn (2 ears are good- again if they aren’t in season, leave this out)
- 3 scallions white part sliced thin
-
A generous amount of fresh cilantro roughly chopped - (1/2 large bunch is what I used, if cilantro isn’t your jam, a combination of fresh basil and baby spinach may be a nice alternative)
- 1/4 t. salt + 1 t. sugar for the cucumbers
- 4 T rice vinegar (see note at bottom)
- 1 t. chili crisp
- 2 T. sesame oil
- 4 T Coconut aminos or a good soy sauce (see note at bottom)
- A few shakes of ground coriander
- Lime juice from one lime
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped rough
- 1 T water
Directions
Step 1
Take sliced cukes, turn them over seed side down and with the flat side of a large knife, gently press to roughly smash them.
Slice into bite sized pieces and place in colander with the salt and sugar.
Drain while prepping other parts of recipe up to 30 minutes.
Step 2
In a small bowl, mix 3 T soy sauce, 3 T rice vinegar, 1 T sesame oil, 1/2 lime juice, chili crisp and coriander. Whisk well and pour into the bowl you will be serving the meal in. Set aside.
Step 3
In a large skillet heat 2 chopped cloves garlic, remaining 1 T sesame oil, 1 T soy, 1 T water on medium heat until garlic is slightly browning, add shrimp and cover pan for about 2 minutes.
Lift cover and add corn, and turn shrimp over then cover until cooked about another minute or two.
Remove shrimp and corn and add to the soy sauce mixture you set aside, mix well.
Step 4
Add drained cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocados, mix well.
Add cilantro at the end and finish with remaining lime juice and rice vinegar.
Mix gently and serve.
YUM.
I love heading to Andrade's Catch in Bristol, RI for not only fresh seafood (where I bought the jumbo shrimp) but also because Victoria stocks the shelves with really special sauces and condiments. I splurged on these 3 ingredients and was not disappointed. The Cabi Umami Dashi Soy was really worth the splurge, had some great tang and not nearly as salty as regular soy. I also tried the “small batch New England" rice vinegar and the cute cork made me feel like I was using a special bottle of wine with my dinner. It is really fun to try some of her selection if you live in the area, plus it supports a small business.
If you love this recipe by Melissa Clark, you will likely love her others, I sell this cookbook at Alayne White - order here.