Shrimps are perhaps the most favorite marine delicacies that captivate many with their amazing taste. They can be simply boiled, added to gravy and dressing, to soups and main dishes. But best of all, they showed themselves in salads. Sea delicacies are combined with almost any vegetables, they do not require complicated dressing, and almost every salad is a real masterpiece.
Key recommendations
Salads with shrimp and lettuce turn out to be delicious if the selected ingredients are as fresh as possible. Therefore, purchase products only from trusted suppliers. It should be borne in mind that approximately a third of the weight will go to the shell.
Salad with shrimp and lettuce is not only a holiday for taste buds. Regularly using this dish, you will saturate your body with useful trace elements, protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Of course, if you do not live on the seashore, you can buy shrimp only in a supermarket, and at not the most affordable prices. Therefore, for most of us, such a dish is rather exotic.
How to choose a shrimp
Only at first glance it is impossible to do. But if you want your salad with shrimp and lettuce to be loved by your family and definitely benefit, you need to learn how to choose high-quality seafood. So:
- The shell should be glossy and evenly colored.
- Ponytails should always remain bent.
- No ice should be present in the packaging.
- The size of the crustaceans does not say anything about quality, but only determines their belonging to a particular variety.
If you see dried limbs and shell, black spots on the body of the shrimp, if the meat is yellowish, then the storage conditions were violated. It’s not worth preparing a salad with shrimps and lettuce, it’s better to take the goods back to the store and submit a complaint.
Shrimp preparation
This procedure will be the same regardless of the rest of the selected ingredients. For starters, marine life needs to be thawed. And there are two ways to do this:
- better in the refrigerator, leaving them for several hours on the bottom shelf;
- if there is no time for this, then simply fill them with cold water, and after 15 minutes, drain the water and fill in a new one.
This is important, since the beneficial properties of sea crustaceans are preserved only with careful defrosting. After that, you need to shake them into boiling salted water. When the water boils again, small shrimp need to be boiled for 2-3 minutes. Large ones can be left for 8 minutes. They cannot be kept in boiling water for longer, otherwise the meat will become stiff. Salad with shrimp and lettuce in this case will be edible, but can not claim to be the best.
Sea delicacy
This is one of the most popular snacks that will appeal to lovers of seafood. Shrimp and lettuce salad with the addition of squid becomes not only original, but also very nutritious. The following ingredients are required:
- Squids - 500 g. Do not forget that you can’t cook them for a long time either, otherwise they will become completely inedible. Cook them in boiling water for no longer than 3-4 minutes.
- Shrimp - 250 g. By the way, you can change the proportions depending on your taste preferences.
- A can of canned corn.
- Eggs - 3 pcs.
- A few fresh cucumbers.
- Lettuce leaves.
- Mayonnaise and black olives for decoration.
Cooking method:
- Finished squid need to grind. Shrimp are released from the shell and sent to the salad as a whole.
- Drain the liquid from the corn, chop the egg.
- Cucumbers are diced.
- The salad is chopped in any form.
- Combine all the ingredients and season with mayonnaise.
Now put the finished dish in a salad bowl and decorate with olives and sprigs of greenery.
Caesar salad"
It has many variations, but in any performance it differs in freshness and lightness due to leafy greens. A salad recipe with shrimp and lettuce will be a favorite with a vegetarian, as well as a supporter of a healthy lifestyle. You will need the following products:
- Raw Shrimp on the Shell - 700 g.
- Olive oil - 30-50 ml.
- Barbecue sauce to taste.
- Soy sauce.
- Sweet mustard.
- A few cloves of garlic.
Separately, you need to cook croutons. For this recipe, it is better to make them more piquant. To do this, cut white bread into cubes. In a pan, heat a few tablespoons of ghee and fry the slices until golden brown, add chopped garlic to taste. Pour them with grated cheese (100 g) and put the pan to the side.
Now the last detail is refueling. You need to mix a few tablespoons of oil, lemon or lime juice, wine vinegar, add pepper and salt.
Cooking method
The first step is to free the raw shrimp from the shell. With a toothpick you need to remove the intestines. Combine sweet mustard and barbecue sauce. Garlic and other spices are added to taste. Soy sauce also looks great in this composition. Now you need to dip each shrimp into it and fry until golden brown. It remains the case for small. It is necessary in a chaotic manner to chop lettuce, put croutons on them, arrange shrimps on top and pour over the sauce.
Avocado Salad
This fruit is valued for its beneficial and nutritious properties and goes well with seafood. Try a salad with shrimp, avocado and lettuce. You will be convinced that it is very tasty. You will need:
- Large shrimp - 500 g.
- Cherry Tomatoes - 200 g.
- Large avocado.
- Fresh cilantro.
- Lime juice.
- Olive oil.
First you need to cut the avocado into cubes. It tends to blacken quickly, so it is worth sprinkling with lemon juice. Cut the tomatoes in half. They will give the dish an attractive look and shade the taste. Boil the shrimp and put in a cup. Season with sauce. The prepared appetizer with lettuce, shrimp and cherry will appeal to both meat-eaters and vegetarians.
Egg dressing
If you want to cook a side dish with an original taste, then pay attention to this shrimp salad with lettuce. Eggs are used for dressing, giving the sauce a special density and taste. Consider cooking in steps:
- To make croutons, you need to cut white bread, add garlic and fry the slices in a greased skillet.
- Sauce. Pour 100 ml of olive oil into a cup, salt and pepper. Add chopped clove of garlic, two tablespoons of lemon juice, three boiled yolks. Rub the sauce thoroughly.
We pass to the final assembly. To do this, boil and peel 500 g of shrimp and tear a bunch of lettuce leaves with your hands. Slice 15-20 pieces of cherry tomatoes. Grind 100 g of cheese. Put leaves on the bottom of the salad bowl, on top the tomatoes, water everything with dressing and cover it with cheese.
Breaded Shrimp Salad
This is not just a snack, but a real dream. Crispy crustaceans in tender greens and in a light sauce. You can eat as much as you like, there will be no harm to your figure. And there are at least two cooking options. In the first case - this is a classic version of the salad with shrimp, tomatoes and lettuce. The second is a bit more complicated, here it is more detailed and stop. You will need:
- 400 g raw shrimp;
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise;
- bread crumbs;
- vegetable oil;
- lettuce - a large bunch;
- sweet chili sauce - a third of a glass;
- broccoli cabbage - 350 g;
- greens to taste.
The first step is to prepare the green part. To do this, chop the salad and add broccoli, chopped onions. Mix mayonnaise with chili sauce. Please note that it must be just sweet. Otherwise, it will be impossible to eat the resulting dish. While it is possible to put both salad and sauce in the refrigerator.
Shrimp should be peeled and placed in a deep bowl. Add vegetable oil and bread. Each crustacean should get a kind of crust. Now heat the oil in a pan and immerse the shrimp into it one after another. Cooking time - 3 minutes on each side. Now you can mix them with the sauce and put in a cup to the greens. The dish is bright and elegant, but not stored for a long time, so you should not cut it in advance.
Summer wonder
What is the best served at this time of year? Right, as many fresh vegetables as possible. They abound in a salad with shrimp, cherry tomatoes and lettuce. Therefore, it is most advantageous to cook it in the summer. You will need:
- some fresh cucumbers;
- cherry tomatoes (you can take ordinary ones, just choose small and dense);
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- boiled and peeled shrimp - 200 g;
- butter and cheese - 20 g each;
- white wine - 2-3 tablespoons;
- white bread - 2 slices;
- vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons;
- lemon juice and lettuce leaves;
- dill.
You need to cook the salad immediately before serving, so that the greens do not have time to dry. To do this, pick salad leaves with your hands, chop the cucumbers into strips, add chopped tomatoes. Cut the carrots into strips and thin strips - cheese.
If you don’t have time to mess with croutons, use the kitchen assistants: cooking bread in the toaster can save a lot of time. Dry the slice and cut it hot into pieces. Add croutons to vegetables. Now let's do the shrimp. They need to be fried in butter and pour the wine. Stew for 10 minutes, then put in a salad. It remains to make a simple refueling. To do this, mix pepper and sesame seeds, vegetable oil and lemon juice. Pour everything and mix lightly.
Instead of a conclusion
The delicate taste of shrimp goes well with most vegetables. Therefore, do not be afraid to experiment, add tomatoes and bell peppers, corn and any greens. Seafood perfectly complement each other, so you can add mussels, squid, octopus to shrimp, if desired. A very interesting combination is obtained if apples, pears, pomegranates, avocados are added to the salad. On New Year's Day, mandarin and pineapple are often the choice. In this case, the salad is very lightweight, dietary.