Shrimp Rémoulade is a classic southern appetizer. This recipe comes from New Orleans and Houston Tex Mex. My mother ran a similar dish in her restaurant, with baby shrimp or ice shrimp stuffed in an avocado, over a bed of finely shredded iceberg lettuce and tomato wedges. I’ve updated that version with Green Sauce as the base, and a lightly dressed jicama slaw over a fanned out avocado half.
Green Sauce,which is great with fish or shrimp tacos, was popularized in the Houston market and is made with unripe green tomatoes as well as tomatillos, jalapeños, cilantro, avocado and garlic. I mixed the cooked shrimp with my version of Rémoulade Sauce to top the avocado and garnish with Tobacco Onions. (Tobacco Onions are simply any type of onion bulb sliced very thin and quick-fried in hot oil until they are golden brown.) The salad is super easy to make after you’ve made the two sauces. Once you get set up with all of you ingredients, you can assemble these pretty fast.
Tex-Mex Remoulade a remarkably delicious appetizer.
In the center of dish add 1-2 tbsp of Green Sauce. With the backside of a spoon, smooth out to form a circle. This should be just larger than the avocado half you will put on top.
Carefully slice half of a ripe avocado and gently fan it out. Use a spatula to lift and place into the center of the dish on the Green Sauce.
In a medium sized mixing bowl add balsamic vinegar and whisk in the oil. Peel and julienne slices of jicama. Toss the jicama with the vinaigrette.
Place a small amount of jicama on top of the fanned out avocado.
In another small dish, toss together the Rémoulade sauce and the cooked shrimp. With a set of tongs, carefully add the shrimp on top of the jicama.
Thinly slice a shallot and fry in oil at 350 degrees. The shallot slices will turn brown quickly once they start to cook, so keep an eye on them. Remove the shallots from the oil once they are golden brown with a slotted spatula or tongs and drain on a paper towel lined dish. You can salt the onions once they are out of the fry oil. In the restaurant business we call these Tobacco Onions since they now look like shriveled tobacco leaves. They are seriously addicting to eat, so don’t worry about making too much.
Place the Tobacco Onions on top of the shrimp and serve immediately.
Shrimp Rémoulade
Ingredients
- 12 21-25ct shrimp, peeled, deveined and cooked
- 1/2 cup Jicama peeled, julienned
- 1 tbsp Vinegar, white balsamic
- 3 tbsp Oil neutral flavor like grape seed, vegetable, canola
- 1 whole Shallot, large thinly sliced, fried (Tobacco Onions)
- 4 tbsp Green Sauce
- 4 tbsp Remoulade Sauce
Instructions
- Add 1-2 tbsp of Green Sauce to the center of the serving dish and smooth out the sauce into a circle with the backside of the spoon.The circle should be slightly larger than the avocado half you will place on top.
- Prepare a ripe avocado by scooping out one half and slicing it thinly. Gently push down on the avocado while moving your hand forward to fan out the avocado. With a spatula pick up the entire half of the avocado and place it on top of the green sauce.
- Dress the peeled and julienned jicama with a light vinaigrette of oil and white balsamic vinegar. Pick the jicama up with tongs and let the excess vinaigrette fall back into the mixing bowl. Gently arrange the jicama over the avocado.
- In another medium sized bowl, dress the cooked shrimp with the Remoulade Sauce. Carefully place the shrimp over the jicama, stacking the shrimp into a small mound.
- To make the topper, thinly sliced shallots and fry them until golden brown in a pot or skillet with about 1 inch of vegetable or grape seed oil heated to 350 degrees. Remove the shallots from the oil with a slotted spatula or tongs and drain them on a paper towel lined dish.
- To salt the onions, add a pinch (to taste) to bowl, add the Tobacco Onions and toss.
- Top the salad with the onions and serve immediately.
Wine pairing with something vinegar based can be a little tricky. I would suggest something neutral, light and slightly sweet (sparkling or not) like a chilled De Chanceny Vouvray Demi Sec or Guy Saget Vouvray. If you prefer something not as sweet, try an Austrian Brunn Grüner Veltliner or a Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner
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