Spring-Fresh Lemon Basil Shrimp Salad
From Carrie Morey's Hot Little Suppers cookbook
Ingredients
- • 1 lb of peeled shrimp
- • 1-2 celery stalks, chopped (about ¾ cup)
- • Zest and juice of 1 small lemon (about 1 teaspoon zest and 1 ½ tablespoons juice)
- • ½ cup mayonnaise
- • 1 green onion, chopped
- • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- • Salt and pepper to taste
Searching for a foolproof recipe to whip up for your Easter or springtime celebrations? This Lemon Basil Shrimp Salad is so simple and packed with a punch of flavor that your guests will love. Serve them as mini sandwiches or get creative with crackers, crudité, and more!
Prior to the pandemic, our eatery locations served up a different special each day of the week. These days, we serve up monthly specials to keep things smooth for our customers’s experience and our team’s work, but we still love to circulate our old daily specials into the mix. One of our favorites from the week was Wednesdays, which was freshly roasted shrimp served up in a grits bowl. I’d get all the shrimp from the Tarvin and Magwood families on Shem Creek near my house, and when we’d have leftover shrimp from the special, I couldn’t wait to take it home. It’s too precious a delicacy to waste!
This salad is one of my favorite ways to use shrimp, and it has become a summer staple at our house. You can serve it on its own, stuffed in a fluffy buttered biscuit, or slice some biscuits in half, toast them, and serve it up as a little crostini perfect for spring and summer hosting!
The fresh zing of citrus is perfectly balanced with the creaminess of the mayo and the mellow herb flavor. And what I love about this recipe is that it is so easy to customize – add as much or as little of everything as you want! My family loves a little extra mayo and I always really squeeze the lemons dry to get all of that juice incorporated, but you can make it however you’d like and it’s still just as simple.
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to about 400ºF. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and add peeled shrimp in an even layer. Season with salt and pepper.
- Roast the shrimp until just cooked through and pink. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down before adding into the salad; if you’d like, you can remove the shrimp from the warm tray to cool faster.
- While the shrimp cool, combine the celery, lemon zest, lemon juice, mayonnaise, green onions, basil, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix until just combined.
- When shrimp have fully cooled, give them a rough chop and then add into the bowl with your lemon basil mayonnaise. Fold in the shrimp until well-coated and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Serving suggestion: reheat Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit frozen buttermilk or sharp cheddar biscuit according to package instructions. Use them as the base for mini sandwiches, or slice the biscuits in half, toast the halves until golden brown, and serve shrimp over top as a Southern crostini!