Mango and Avocado Salad with Shrimp

Mango season is to be savoured.  The special sweetness and juiciness that is in a mango is second to none.

Along with all the sweet dessert dishes that mango can show up in, I love mango in a savoury salad dish.  A summery salad like this one today is a meal unto itself, and is perfect for entertaining or even as just a light dinner.  The salad works great as a side, but when you add shrimp, it becomes something special.

Fruit and vegetables in the same dish is just so perfect, especially as everything seems to be in season at the moment.  So don’t waste a moment to enjoy all the produce.  And of course, we enjoy it first with our eyes, visually all the colours are just so beautiful and impressive.

Salad Prep

You can gather all the ingredients and have them ready to go in a large bowl and waiting in the fridge till you want to serve the salad.

Whichever mango you choose to use (I prefer the Alphonso or Ataulfo, aka Honey varieties) just make sure it is ripe but still firm. You don’t want it disintegrating or turning to mush as you slice it up.  Still trying to conquer cutting a mango?  Check out this link.

You can use kale, romaine, even a pre-washed lettuce blend from the grocery store.  If it doesn’t contain some radicchio, then get some as well. You will want about 4 cups total of the greens.

For the snow peas, count on 1/2 cup, trimmed and roughly chopped

Two scallions, 1/4 cup red onion slices, and thinly sliced basil are my other additions.

But feel free to add any of the following: shaved red cabbage, diced red pepper, cucumber, bean sprouts, even thinly sliced carrot batons.

Avocado is the other component, but you don’t really want to have this sliced up in advance.  Wait until just before serving to dice up the avocado.  You can drizzle a little lime or lemon juice over the flesh to keep it from browning till serving.

As with all my salads, feel free to add more of your favourite component, and leave out or replace the ones that don’t float your boat.

Shrimp Component

My favourite shrimp size is the 16-20 per pound size. These are the most versatile, nice and large for individual serving, but can easily be chopped for salads etc.  They still cook fast, but have enough meat on them that they won’t quickly turn rubbery.

Here is my absolute favourite way to prep shrimp for just about any dish.  You will want to purchase shrimp with the shells attached.  These days you can easily find deveined shrimp with the shells attached.  These are often called EZ peel shrimp.  The messy job of removing the digestive tract vein from the back of the shrimp has already been done for us, but the shell is kept on for cooking. The reasons I like the shells still on are a few: shrimp cooked in their shells maintain a plump texture and have a better flavour.  They also don’t overcook too quickly, which can happen if you are cooking shrimp that have already been peeled.  The shells add a depth of flavour, the shrimp just taste…shrimpier!  Having said this, if you would rather use peeled shrimp, that’s fine.

Butter, olive oil, garlic and chilli flakes are heated up but not to the point of scorching the garlic.  The the shrimp are added in.  After about 1 1/2 minutes, they should be pink on the bottom.  Use a pair of tongs to flip the shrimp and cook for another 1 1/2 minutes.  Then you’ll add a bit more butter and lemon juice.  This will create a cooking broth of sorts.  Cook the shrimp for another minute, depending on the size of shrimp you are cooking.  Salt, pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, and some chopped chives or parsley, and these are ready to go out on a salad, as part of cocktail platter, even used for shrimp salad or Shrimp Rolls.  I will even use this method to prep the shrimp for Smørrebrød, the shrimp salad open faced sandwiches which hail from Sweden and Denmark.

The shrimp can be cooked off and chilled, with the cooking liquid poured over.  Once ready to serve, just peel them, leaving the tail on if you so desire.  Or feel free to leave the shells on the shrimp.  Some really get a kick out of peeling shrimp.  Depending on how fancy the setting is that you are serving this salad, you’ll know what to do.  

The Salad Dressing

I won’t lie, I love to have dressings that do double and even triple duty.  My Lemon Poppyseed Dressing is just that dressing.  It works on my Strawberry Spinach Salad.  It works great as sauce over pasta salad.  When I make up a batch, it is the in fridge for the week.  So why not transform it a little bit? With a little addition, it will be great in this salad today.  I love to add a bit of heat when using mango.  So a fresh small red chilli pepper is minced (remove any seeds etc) and gets added to the dressing just before serving.  Just remember, that if you made the dressing earlier in the week, bring it back to room temperature before getting ready to add the chilli and serve

Final Thoughts

When it comes time to serve, bring out the salad and plate it on a platter or wide bowl. Cut up the avocado and add to the salad.  Dress the salad with the dressing.  Finish with a bit of coarse black pepper and more chiffonaded basil.  Finally, place the shrimp decoratively over the salad. Finish with some more dressing, a final bit of basil, salt and pepper.  Feel free to peel the shrimp before placing on the salad if you prefer.  Oh, I should also say, while I describe this as a make ahead meal, even for the shrimp portion, feel free to make the shrimp just before serving if you would like to serve them warm.

This can be a light dinner with crusty bread and chilled rosé or Prosecco.  It can be a first course as well.  I like it as a first course, with grilled flank steak or fish to follow.  If this is the case, you will most likely need less shrimp, or serve more people.

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Mango and Avocado Salad with Shrimp

A fresh, bright and easy summer salad becomes dinner when shrimp are added. Sweet mango and creamy avocado make this a most memorable salad

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine North American

Keyword avocado, mango, shrimp

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Salad

• 4 cup mixed greens, you can used massaged green kale, Lacinato kale, romaine, butter lettuce, radicchio etc
• 1/2 cup roughly sliced snow peas
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 2 Honey or Alphonso mangoes, thinly sliced or diced
• 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp basil, thinly sliced or chiffonaded, divided
• 1 avocado diced
• 1 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice

Lemon Poppyseed Salad Dressing, see Notes below for the link

• 1 small red chilli pepper, seeds removed, minced

Shrimp, can be made in advance and chilled in the fridge, or made just before serving if you want to serve them warm.

• 2 lb shrimp, deveined, but with shells attached
• 4 tbsp butter, divided
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, or to taste
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning, or to taste, see Notes.

Instructions

Salad

1. Place the salad components onto a large platter or wide bowl. Save some of the basil for garnish. If not serving right away, don't add the avocado till just before serving. You can dice the avocado and sprinkle it with citrus juice to help keep it from browning.

2. Have the dressing made, with the minced chilli pepper added to the dressing. You will be using about 1/4 cup of dressing. Start with 1/4 tsp of chilli pepper to taste. Add more as desired. Of course you can use more dressing.

3. Dress the salad with some of the dressing.
4. Place the shrimp on the salad and drizzle with a bit more dressing. Garnish with the remaining basil, and more salt and pepper.

Shrimp

1. Place 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet set over medium to medium high heat. Add the garlic and chilli flakes. Warm the garlic through, so that it starts flavouring the butter. But don't brown the garlic. Adjust the heat if necessary.
2. Lay out the shrimp in the skillet and cook on one side for 1 1/2 minutes. Use tongs to turn the shrimp over. Cook another 1 1/2 minutes.

3. Add the lemon juice and remaining butter and cook the shrimp 1-1/2 minutes more, depending on the size of the shrimp.

4. Sprinkle the Old Bay seasoning and salt and pepper over all the shrimp.
5. You can serve these shrimp right away, or you can chill them till needed.
6. You can remove the shells before serving, or allow the guests to remove them. The setting and type of meal it is may affect your decision to leave the shells on.

Recipe Notes

The Lemon Poppyseed dressing link
Other salad component options: shredded red cabbage, diced red pepper, sliced cucumbers, bean sprouts, thinly sliced carrot batons, chopped parsley or cilantro.
I like the 16-20 per pound size of shrimp.  They have a meaty presence that makes this truly feel like a meal.  But feel free to use the size you prefer.  And if you don't want to use shrimp with the shells attached, you will need to reduce the cooking time.

I purchase my Old Bay seasoning, it is easy to find at any grocery store.  But I did include a link in the blog post for a homemade recipe if you need it.