Seafood Salad

Well, today our builder was to have all the pricing together, so we could sign a contract and go to the bank.  All would then been in order for him to start ordering and be ready to build when we returned from our trip.  As he never fails to disappoint, we received an email from The Troll (his assistant) listing everything that he still needed pricing on; which was everything that I did not gather the pricing for personally.  I guess they were all out coon hunting and just didn’t get around to pricing this house. 

It is summer here, although not the disgusting hot, hot, hot.  Actually perfect building weather.  I cut this recipe out of the FoodTV magazine, Jan/Feb issue.  It was easy to make and very good.  I would call it a perfect summer meal.  It says serves 4, but they are whopping big servings.   

Ingredients:

3 stalks of celery (1 quartered, 2 thinly sliced)

3 small cloves garlic (2 smashed, 1 chopped)

Juice of 1 lemon, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

¾ # small shrimp, peeled and deveined

½ # sea scallops, halved horizontally

1 small avocado, halved, pitted and peeled, divided

2 romaine lettuce hearts, torn

1 T capers, plus 1 T brine from the jar

2 C croutons

1 T light mayonnaise

Directions:

1.      Combine the quartered celery, 2 smashed garlic, half of the lemon juice (I threw the rind in also), 10 C water, and salt (1/2 T) and pepper to taste in a large saucepan.  Cover and bring to a boil.

2.      Uncover, add carrots and cook 2 minutes. 

3.      Add the shrimp and cook until opaque, about 4 minutes. 

4.      With a slotted spoon, transfer the carrots and shrimp to a colander and rinse under cold water.  It is tricky, but leave the lemon, celery, and garlic in the pot. 

5.      Return the water to a boil, add the scallops and cook until opaque, 1-2 minutes.  Add to the colander and rinse under cold water. 

6.      Ladle out 1/3 C of the poaching liquid; set aside to cool. 

7.      Dice half of the avocado and combine with the sliced celery, lettuce, capers and croutons in a large bowl. 

8.      Add the carrots, shrimp and scallops. 

9.      Puree the remaining avocado half in a blender(I used a mini-Cuisinart)with the reserved poaching liquid, the remaining lemon juice, the caper brine, chopped garlic, mayonnaise, ½ t salt and pepper to taste.

10.  Toss with the salad and season with salt and pepper. It did not need more in my estimation.