Shrimp Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Olives

Name: Shrimp Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Olives
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Green salad or salad mix 100 g; Large shrimp 10-12; Cherry tomatoes 10-12; Green olives with pits 10-12; Olive oil 3-4 tbsp; Balsamic vinegar 0.5 tsp; Salt, ground black pepper, oregano to taste

A simple, tasty shrimp salad is, without a doubt, an appetizer. An appetizer is generally thought of as the start of a lunch, a dinner or any meal at all. And, as is customary, a meal often opens with an aperitif: a shot of something strong with a light bite. Most often the bite that goes with an aperitif is a vegetable snack or a sandwich. Of course, the sandwich is the universal, everyday appetizer. It's perfect for so-called office parties, because it's quick and easy to make. Then again, the most popular appetizer of all is herring with onion and sauerkraut — I got a bit carried away with the sandwiches there.

But a salad is a refined appetizer and, as a rule, a versatile one. Most of us, when salads come up, picture a big bowl of Olivier salad. It's a national …

Strictly speaking, a salad is a mix of all kinds of ingredients: almost always the green parts of salad plants, plus mushrooms and vegetables (raw, boiled or roasted), beans, fruit and so on. Such dishes nearly always come with a dressing — the ubiquitous mayonnaise I don't care for, vegetable oil, or oil mixed with spices. My favorite is vinaigrette: a mix of olive (Provençal) oil and wine vinegar (sometimes lemon or pomegranate juice instead). This dressing suits most mixed salads. Shrimp sauce is pretty good too, and quick to make. Apart from fruit and sweet salads, salads are always salted — in fact, the word “salad” most likely comes from the word for “salt”.

With rare exceptions, salads shouldn't be made in advance — for example, squid salad will simply go watery. Unless the recipe calls for “soaking”, an appetizer salad is best made right before serving. People were making salads back in ancient times: the Romans used endive (salad chicory), vegetables, various greens, onion and garlic, and dressed the dish with olive oil.

A mix of green leaves or other salad plants (chard, arugula, lettuce, chicory and so on) with shrimp, other seafood and fresh herbs makes a great salad.

Today we're making a salad with shrimp meat and cherry tomatoes, plus some olives. It's a simple recipe that doesn't take much time or effort. This tasty shrimp dish is a great appetizer with an aperitif, or simply a tasty breakfast on the Mediterranean diet.

Ingredients

2 servings

Green salad or salad mix 100 g
Large shrimp 10-12
Cherry tomatoes 10-12
Green olives with pits 10-12
Olive oil 3-4 tbsp
Balsamic vinegar 0.5 tsp
Salt, ground black pepper, oregano to taste

Step-by-step recipe

Shrimp are a popular salad ingredient in the cuisines of many countries. That said, due to certain religious traditions, shrimp are often not eaten at all. Shrimp are also very much part of beer culture — shrimp with beer is, at least where I live, hugely popular. Many people think live shrimp are red. So, having bought a pack or a kilo of shrimp, they start boiling them hard “until done”. In fact, a live shrimp is gray or olive in color. It only turns red after boiling — just like a crayfish.
If you bother to read the label on packaged shrimp, you'll see “cooked in sea water” or simply “cooked and ready to eat”. Since we're far from the sea, they're sold frozen here. To eat them or cook with them, all you need to do is thaw them. And peel them, of course. I thaw frozen shrimp very simply: I put them in a deep bowl and pour boiling water from the kettle over them. In 3-5 minutes they're thawed and the water has cooled to room temperature. All that's left is to drain the water and peel off the shells.
Thaw and peel the shrimp; king prawns work well. Discard the heads, peel the shell off the tails and carefully remove any bits of shell that always stay behind after peeling. Heat a grill pan and sear the shrimp tails for 45-60 seconds on each side.
Prepare the green salad leaves. By “green” I mean fresh, since salad leaves can range from white to purple. The simplest option is lettuce or napa cabbage (which is essentially a head lettuce). Wash the leaves, dry them and tear them into pieces by hand. Never cut green leaves with a knife: cutting damages the cells and the leaves start to release liquid. These days you can buy lots of packaged salad greens of every kind: iceberg, arugula, chard, lettuce, baby mustard leaves and so on. The package often says the leaves are clean and washed, so there's no need to wash and dry them again. I admit I love these mixes, because drying wet leaves is a real pain.
Put the clean, dry leaves of your chosen salad into a bowl. Add the green olives. Why green? I once read about how olives are dyed black and made a firm decision to stop slowly poisoning myself.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the salad. Add the prepared shrimp. Sprinkle with a pinch of dried oregano.
Make the dressing. Pour your best olive oil into a small bowl, season with salt and pepper. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar. Whisk everything with a fork. Olive oil and vinegar emulsify nicely.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss. Toss so that all the ingredients are evenly mixed, since the tomatoes, olives and shrimp keep trying to end up at the bottom of the bowl.
Divide the finished salad of greens and shrimp among individual salad bowls of a suitable size and serve.
Once again I've seen that shrimp are perfect for salads, both on their own and together with other seafood.