Peggy Lampman's Tuesday dinnerFeed: Avocado with cumin-salsa shrimp
Avocado Stuffed with Cumin-Salsa Shrimp
Peggy Lampman | Contributor
Making your own fresh tomato salsa would be delicious but I have a couple of half used jars of salsa that need to be used. Actually I combined the two and the results were quite good. Obviously, use the salsa that suits your palate as that will dictate how yummy this dish will be.
Yield: 4 servings Active Time: 10 minutes Rest Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 tablespoon grape seed or canola oil 1/2 teaspoon cumin 12-16 ounces raw shrimp, thawed, peeled and deveined (you will need 5-8 shrimp per avocado, depending on size of shrimp and avocado) 1 1/2-2 cups of your favorite salsa* 2 large ripe avocados
*"Doctor-up" your salsa according to your palate. I love fresh cilantro and add several additional tablespoons to mine, reserving extra sprigs for a garnish.
Directions
1. Heat oil in large sauté pan to medium high heat; stir in cumin. Cook shrimp until just cooked through, 1-3 minutes on each side, depending on size of shrimp. 2. Toss the warm shrimp with 1 1/2 cups salsa, adding additional salsa to taste. Let the shrimp stand in the salsa at room temperature 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, for the flavors to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 3. Up to two hours before serving, cut each avocado in half, from pole to pole. Pit the avocado but do not peel. Divide and spoon the shrimp salad into the avocado shells. Serve.
Comments
momzilla
Fri, May 7, 2010 : 5:41 a.m.
They were a huge sucess!! I did a few alterations.....I sliced the avacado crosswise in situ...so never took it out...but this allowed eaters to use a spoon to get chunks of the green goodness with the shrimp. I did squeeze lemon juice on the insides before stuffing them...this worked well...and the left over "stuffing" I put in the center of the platter incase folks needed more. I should have taken a photo...they were lovely. This link was sent to all the book group gals who wanted the the recipie. Oh...and I did NOT use fresh shrimp...no time. I used frozen already cooked shrimp....of course thawed....it was like gazapacho....you could add cukes, peppers, black beans....whatever one likes! happy Cinco de Mayo.
Peggy Lampman
Thu, May 6, 2010 : 7:26 a.m.
Momzilla: I stuffed the avocado, I think, a couple of hours in advance to eating (and refrigerated) then brought to room temp before serving. I was happy my avocado did not brown during the time in captivity. Can't guarantee yours won't but it's great to do as much in advance when entertaining as possible. I would defn. wait to the last minute to sprinkle on cilantro. Have fun! Peggy
momzilla
Thu, May 6, 2010 : 6:17 a.m.
I am making this tonight for book group meeting. I will let you know how it turns out.....stay tuned.
Jake C
Tue, May 4, 2010 : 2:47 p.m.
The avocado halves make for a nice presentation when serving, but ended up kinda smooshed (and with a lot of leftover avocado after eating the shrimp). I made the dish easier to eat by peeling & cubing the avocados ahead of time and serving it so there was roughly a 1:1 ratio of big avocado cubes to shrimp. Aside from that, good recipe!
vicki
Tue, May 4, 2010 : 6:59 a.m.
I am looking forward to making this recipe! Shrimp, avocado and salsa --what a superb combination. Thanks for sharing, Peggy!