Shrimp Salad with Citrus Dressing

Sometimes when I crave greens, I just want a crisp salad topped with citrus dressing. In Vietnamese cuisine, a common salad called gỏi is made with fresh shredded greens, usually papaya or cabbage, topped with prawns, herbs, and roasted peanuts mixed with a vinegar chili dressing made with fish sauce. There are so many versions of gỏi, but I find that most of the time, the best salads are the result of using fresh local ingredients. This past summer, inspired by the abundance of sweet oranges, I came up with a citrus dressing that complimented my shrimp salad quite nicely. I like to share this recipe with you. Of course, you can even add your own local ingredients, including replacing shrimp with crab meat or topping the salad with walnuts for extra crunch.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SALAD:
1 head of butter lettuce (soft leaves), washed and torn to bite size
2 medium carrots, thinly shredded (use peeler)
cherry tomatoes or 1 plum tomato, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
2 dozen large shrimps (prawns), deveined and shelled
5 cloves of garlic, minced or garlic powder
half onion, thinly diced
salt
pepper
sugar

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRESSING:


Ingredients for the dressing.

2 large sweet naval oranges, 1 orange cut into wedges, the other squeeze for juice
3-5 tablespoon of rice vinegar (my favorite brand is Marukan)
1 teaspoon of yellow mustard
3-5 tablespoon of olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt
pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Butter lettuce is ideal for this salad because it has more flavor than iceberg or romaine lettuce, and it just melts in your mouth. After washing and tearing the lettuce leaves into the size you prefer, put the shredded carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, orange wedges, and any other greens or toppings you desire.


Fresh orange wedges

2. In a pan, pour a generous amount of olive oil and saute the onions and garlic, then add the shrimp and stir. Season the shrimp with a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar. I usually cover the pan with a lid for a quick minute to ensure that they are thoroughly cooked (do not over cook the shrimp).


Saute shrimps

3. In a bowl, add the juice of the oranges (about half a cup or more), the juice of the lemon, the rice vinegar (start with 3 tablespoon and add more if you want more acidity), the olive oil, yellow mustard and stir with a fork. Flavor with a pinch of salt and pepper.


Citrus dressing

4. Top the salad with the saute shrimps and drizzle with the citrus dressing.

Enjoy...