Shrimp Salad

Summertime is salad time, at least in my house. Where I live it gets hot and very humid, so even though I'm Northern born and raised I tend to skew toward the Southern method of handling food and I cook a bunch of stuff late at night when the temperature is more manageable that can be eaten cold later.

Or, you know, sometimes I don't cook at all. Like I did with this Shrimp Salad. I actually came up with this one because I bought a bunch of stuff from Omaha Steaks and my freezer was so full something had to go. I figured I'd defrost a bag of shrimp, and while it was in the sink I pulled together a bunch of stuff I thought would be good in it. This got a high approval rating from everyone who tried it, to the point where I hid the last serving in a sour cream container so I could have it all to myself.

You know what you see in this picture? Everything in this recipe. Absolutely everything. I didn't add anything later, I didn't decide against using something after I took the picture... None of that. This is all that's in it. Weird, huh?

Anyway, obviously there is shrimp. And I had some bacon left over from the Farmstand Bread Pudding, so of course I used some of that. I also had half a red onion and a green bell pepper just hanging out, so in they went. And that partial bag of green peas needed to get out of the freezer as well. I decided on a mayonnaise based dressing, then headed to the back porch for some oregano and parsley, threw in some smoked paprika from Spice Merchants, some garlic salt from my Olde Thompson grinder, some cumin, and some black pepper. Off we go!

I started by chopping and frying the bacon, then draining it on some paper towels. After defrosting the shrimp and peas, I let them stand on paper towels as well to absorb the excess water while I chopped the rest of the vegetables. About half the green pepper went in, and then I had a thought with the onion. I used two slices about 1/2-inch thick, but one of them I diced and the other I quartered and separated into rings. Red onion is pretty, so I wanted to use it for visual appeal as well as flavour.

All of those things went into a bowl and mixed, then I let them stand for about a half hour. I honestly have no idea if you need to do that or not, though... My phone rang so I was away for about that long. I find it impossible to have a conversation while cooking, because I always make what ends up being a spectacularly awful mistake.

I then minced the fresh herbs and stirred those into the mix. Originally I intended to stir them into the dressing, but realized they'd probably hold up better if I didn't. I almost made a huge mistake with this one because I was so excited by how big my herbs had gotten. I'm glad I kept it simple, because too many flavours together would have ruined the end result. As it is, using just two plus a couple of dried ones from the cupboard was amazing!

I ended up using about 2/3 cup of mayonnaise, but it depends on how much you like on your salad. If you end up adding more once you mix everything together, don't worry about adding more seasonings unless it's a substantial amount. I started with 1/2 cup, and adding that bit more didn't dilute anything. I actually did whisk this since the spoon was not working for me, but I almost forgot to take the picture before adding the dressing to the salad so the spoon is what you see.

This was taken immediately after I finished mixing everything together. From here it went into the refrigerator for something like three hours until it was actually dinner time. The flavours had time to meld quite nicely, but nothing was tending toward that "I made this salad too early" look. You know the one I mean. Although I will say even a couple of days later it held up very well! The onion gets a lot stronger, of course, but everything held its texture and the other flavours didn't change.

I'm writing this one up as six servings, but I could have happily eaten half of it as an entree with some toast. If you're going to use it as a side dish, you'll easily get six servings, though, and since that was the intent that's what it says. If you're into garnishes, additional sprigs of parsley and/or oregano would be lovely.

Shrimp Salad

Serves 6

1/4 pound bacon, diced and cooked

8 ounces cocktail shrimp (cooked, thawed if frozen, tails removed)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup red onion (diced, cut into strips, or a combination)

2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, minced

1 tablespoon oregano, minced

1/2 to 3/4 cups olive oil mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Combine bacon, shrimp, peas, bell pepper, and onion in a bowl; let stand 20-30 minutes.

Stir in fresh herbs, and let stand while you mix the dressing.

In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, paprika, garlic salt, black pepper, and cumin until thoroughly combined.

Add dressing to salad and stir to completely coat.

Cover and refrigerate 3-4 hours, then stir again before serving.

Garnish with sprigs of parsley and/or oregano if desired.

Serving Size: 123g

Calories: 220

Calories from Fat: 125

Total Fat: 13.9g

Saturated Fat: 2.6g

Trans Fat: 0.0g

Cholesterol: 43mg

Sodium: 735mg

Total Carbohydrates: 8.9g

Dietary Fiber: 2.3g

Sugars: 2.1g

Protein: 15.0g