Monday, July 15, 2013

CATS Salad

I got the inspiration for my Cucumber, Avocado, Tomato and Shrimp (CATS) salad from this appetizer found on Pinterest.  I made the appetizer and it was very good; yummy shrimp and avocado with a chilled slice of cucumber.  The Sriracha made the dish.

I'm ultimately lazy though and so, after a few tastes, I cut up all the remaining items and made it into a salad.  I added some halved sugar tomatoes.  Instead of squirting Sriracha on every bite I just mixed some Sriracha with soy sauce and used that as my dressing.  It didn't need much because the grilled shrimp was yummy.

I realize it probably should be Shrimp, Cucumber, Avocato and Tomato but that makes it SCAT salad and the kitties don't like that word.

After a few adjustments my final recipe for the salad:

1/2 English cucumber, diced
1 lg tomato, diced or 10-15 small tomatoes halved
1/2 avocado, diced
7-10 grilled shrimp, chopped into bite size pieces

Mix it all together and drizzle with Sriracha, soy sauce and lemon juice to taste.

Grilled Shrimp:

Rinse and dry a pound of raw shrimp.  Drying is important, as I learned from my BFF Chef Debbie.  Otherwise when you grill them, there is too much liquid and they steam.  Once the shrimp are dry drizzled them with a little olive oil.  I've also used Trader Joe's spray olive oil; just spray them lightly.

Mix together 1 1/2 T soy sauce, some red pepper flakes, a dash of lemon zest,  and garlic salt.  I've also added real crushed garlic.  Pour this on the shrimp and mix it well.  I like to let it marinate at least 10 minutes and I think the longer it marinates the better it tastes.

Grill the shrimp in a very hot pan.  You shouldn't need oil since the shrimp have been sitting in oil.  But you might want to try it with butter as she did in the original recipe.  Turn the shrimp as soon as you see the pink coming through, about 1 minute.  I like the shrimp less cooked so once I turn them I don't let them cook more than another minute.  With a pound of shrimp, I have two batches.  You can do one batch for your salad and save the rest to cook later.  That way the flavor is even better.

Remove them from the pan and chop some for the salad.  If you cooked all the shrimp you can nosh on the rest through out the day. They are delicious plain.