Category Archives: Seafood

SHRIMP SALAD

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I found these “shrimp boats” at an estate sale.

My internet research reveals that these were made by Red Wing Pottery in the 1960s, and  that there was also a “butter boat”:

Can you imagine the parties this armada of shrimp boats must have been featured at?  After all, the 1960s were best known for peace, love, rock and roll, and shrimp.  Groovy.

The shrimp boats have provided the inspiration for this recipe for shrimp salad — a specialty of mine.  Although this time of year the heat, humidity, and constant threat of hurricanes makes living on the Gulf Coast miserable, one saving grace is the readily-available wild-caught Gulf Coast shrimp.  Plump, firm, and mildly sweet, Costco’s shrimp ring can’t hold a candle to these.  They make an excellent shrimp salad — so good that you might be tempted to be shellfish and keep it all to yourself.  Delicious on its own, this shrimp salad is also great on a soft roll, and makes tasty little sliders.

By the way, you do know that there’s no popcorn in popcorn shrimp, right?  And hate to burst your bubble about pot roast . . . .

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SHRIMP SALAD
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • ½ pound cooked shrimp,* peeled and deveined
  • 1 stalk celery, minced
  • 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dried)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Coarsely chop shrimp. Place in a medium mixing bowl and add celery, dried onion, mayonnaise, lime juice, and dill. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
  2. *For the best shrimp salad, use wild-caught Gulf Coast shrimp. I like to boil mine with a bag of Zatarain's or Louisiana brand Shrimp Boil.

Just a few ingredients go into this shrimply delicious salad

Ready for the blessing of the shrimp fleet

SHRIMP AND AVOCADO SALSA

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I found this 1939 advertisement on eBay:

The Bread Diet — “a safer way to gain alluring slenderness.”  It “cuts down excess weight without starvation, fatigue or nervous strain.”  Imagine enjoying TWO slices of bread with every meal AND losing weight!  Not only that, but look at what you can do with the energy you’ll get from 2 slices of bread:

That’s right — you can wash windows for an hour!  So maybe you can’t shatter the glass ceiling — at least you can clean it!  Know what else you can do on 2 slices of bread?

That’s right — you can iron for an hour! No wonder women started working outside the home — who wants to stay home and eat bread and iron and clean windows?  By the way — how long do you think I could wash windows or iron on a pint of Blue Bell Cookies & Cream?

One more benefit of the Bread Diet is that it apparently helps you grow freakishly long legs:

So how’s that New Year’s diet going?  Have you already abandoned it for the Bread Diet? I’m pleased to say that I have managed to stick with my New Year’s diet.  One of my favorite “diet” foods is shrimp — Gulf coast wild caught shrimp, to be exact.  3 ounces of shrimp has only 76 calories, 15 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat, and 1 gram of carbohydrates.  I don’t know if that provides enough energy to wash windows for an hour, but then again, I don’t really care.

Inspired by the vintage ad and New Year’s diet resolutions, here’s a simple recipe for Shrimp and Avocado Salsa that we really enjoyed.  Pick a ripe, but firm avocado and handle it gently so as not to turn the salsa into guacamole.  This would make a good Super Bowl appetizer.  (I suppose if you’re really trying to watch it, you could scoop it onto a lettuce leaf instead of a tortilla chip, but then it would be Shrimp and Avocado Sadness.)

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SHRIMP AND AVOCADO SALSA
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • ½ pound cooked wild-caught shrimp, cleaned, deveined, and coarsely chopped
  • 2 large firm but ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, and diced
  • 1 small serrano chile, seeds and ribs removed, minced
  • Juice of 1 small lime
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus sprig for optional garnish
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in a medium bowl, and gently fold together until combined, taking care not to mash the avocados. Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with cilantro sprig, if desired. Serve with tortilla chips.