Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

I took a little break to revisit some of my own recipes. Since my last post I’ve made more banana bread and some of my other favorites. I just needed some mindless cooking where I knew the outcome would be fabulous. Now it’s back to my Southwestern Fiesta Cooking Class.

Chef Gigi shared a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail recipe that would be fabulous eaten with tortilla chips. We ate it on a bed of shredded lettuce, but boy was I craving a nice salty chip to scoop up the dip. Chef Gigi doesn’t usually use the small bay shrimp for the recipe, but I kind of liked it that way. She normally uses a bigger deveined/tail off shrimp for the recipe. The c0-op had given her bay shrimp for the evening.

The Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Fresh Orange Juice
2 Tablespoons Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 Cup Cocktail Sauce – Chile Sauce or Ketchup could be substituted
1/4 Cup Salsa – Fresh homemade or deli salsa was recommended
1 Teaspoon Horseradish
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Mexican Hot Sauce to Taste
1/2 Cucumber – seeded and diced – use a spoon to scrape the seeds out.
1 Tomato – seeded and diced – Roma tomatoes work best for this recipe
1/2 Onion – diced – sweet white works best, but Chef Gigi used red for our batch
1 Small Can Diced Ortega Chilies – you could sub with a fresh jalapeno as well
1/4 Cup Packed Cilantro – chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Clove Garlic – minced
1 Pound Cooked Shrimp – rinsed well with cold water
1 Avocado – diced
Shredded Iceberg Lettuce, Cabbage or CHIPS, Chips and more Chips 😉

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together except for the shrimp and avocado. Right before serving, add the shrimp and avocado.

I loved the flavors. I didn’t want the small bowl to end and I think this would be great for a party type atmosphere. If I were serving it as a main meal, I would go with the bigger shrimp and I love the idea of a bed of mixed lettuce and cabbage for that. I am definitely a chip/dip girl through and through – so I will probably stick with that idea the next time I make this.

In other news: I ran in a 5K over the weekend and posted a recap on my new Etc. page. I figured I needed a place to post about non food/recipe stuff like Higgy, workout/exercise and holiday/home decor updates,  since all of those are a very important part of my life too.