Fresh Shrimp Salad

Life in Southern Indiana is nice,
but one thing that is sorely lacking is
fresh seafood.
Fortunately, a friend of my husband's let him in on a little

secret a few months ago.
It seems that a truck from Fabian Seafood
comes up to B-town with fresh seafood from the gulf
every so often in the warm weather months.
I was directed to go online and sign up
on Fabian Seafood's website so that I could be notified
when they would be coming to town.

I got the email last week
and marked the date on my calendar.

Fresh seafood was on the way.

But you wanted a teaser, right?

Wednesday nights are salad nights

and shrimp are the perfect accompaniment.

After standing in line in a parking lot for half an hour,

I purchased five pounds of shrimp and

one pound of cooked back fin blue crab meat.

I followed the recommendations and portioned out

the shrimp into marked freezer bags and then added

enough water to cover the shrimp.

After sealing the bags,

they were placed in the freezer.

For best flavor,

the shrimp should be used within seven months.

I had a plan for the final batch of the never-frozen shrimp:

salad.

The players are:

Tostada bowls

Romaine lettuce blend

Red onion

Orange bell pepper

Mozzarella cheese (for the Foodie Daughter)

Parmigiano-Reggiano (for my husband and me)

and the fresh shrimp

I had tweaked Rosie Hawthorne's recipe for

Lemon Sriracha Aioli

and came up with a Sweet Chili Aioli.

This is wonderful as a salad dressing.

I make this to taste, but the proportions are roughly

4 parts mayonnaise

1-1/2 parts lemon juice

1 part sweet chili sauce

2 parts sugar

Mix well.

Taste and adjust till you are satisfied with the flavor.

Set aside.

The shrimp have been deshelled and deveined.
I then added sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
before quickly sauteing.
Since this was fresh shrimp,

these literally took one minute to cook.

By the time I had put all the shrimp in the pan,

it was time to turn the first shrimp

and then it was time to take the first shrimp out of the pan.

It was that fast.

But was it worth it?
The answer was unanimous.

Yes!

This shrimp had a wonderful flavor.

It had the flavor of the ocean,

or in this case, the gulf.

Living in Southern Indiana,

we tend to forget that shrimp is supposed

to have a flavor and not just texture.

I'm in love with shrimp all over again.