Shrimp and Avocado Salad

When I go to parties, one of the dishes my friends always request of me is my avocado and shrimp salad.  Its super easy to make, and tastes amazing when it hits your lips. 

2 lbs of shrimp (15 ct per pound)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
S&P

Sauce:
Mayonaise (I used olive oil mayo)
lime juiice
2 avocados
dill (If you have fresh use it, it tastes better)
white wine or champagne vinegar
red onion

Optional: Fried Won Tons

To really get great flavor, Lord Ina suggests to roast shrimp instead of steam or boil.   Makes sense right?  Well the shrimp comes out incredible when you roast it.

Preheat your oven for 425F

Peel and wash shrimp. I take off the tails too.

Pat dry and place on baking sheet.  Mix about 2 tbls of olive oil and about a tsp of salt and pepper and coat the shrimp evenly.

Place shrimp in one layer on baking sheet, but don't over crowd.  I find that they tend to steam more, rather than roast when the pan is too crowded with shrimpies.

Bake for about 10 min keeping a close eye on them.  You don't want to overcook them.  No one likes rubbery shrimp.

While the scrimps are baking, you can whip up the sauce.

There is really no wrong way to do this.  Just make the sauce to your specs. If you like it thick, use less liquid to thin out the mayo.  If you want it less "mayo-ee,"  add more liquid.

In a bowl, mix about 3/4 cup of mayo, dill, a splash of white wine vinegar, lime juice (this also keeps the avocado from browning) and mix.  If it is still a tad thick for your liking, you can add a small splash of milk.  To get the consistency below, I added milk. 

Add chopped red onions, 

My only recommendation is to avoid salting the sauce until it has had time to cool.  The shrimp is salted, and if you add salt to the sauce now, you could end up over doing it.

Once the shrimp are cooked, pull out of the oven.  Since the particular shrimp I used  were a little big, and I was feeding a lot of people, I ended up cutting the shrimp into thirds.

Place warm shrimp into an empty bowl.  Add sauce to the shrimp.  Don't add the shrimp directly to the sauce from the baking sheet because the shrimp juice may further dilute.  So add the sauce in small portions to the shrimp until you get the desired coverage.

Slice up your avocado and cube.

Fold the avocado into the shrimp.  The warmth from the shrimp will help get all those great flavors to marry.  Let cool in the fridge for at least an hour,

Once its cool, taste, and add salt if needed.

Since the salad is so creamy, and the only bit of texture in it comes from the red onions, I like to fry up some won ton sheets and use them as a serving vessel.  And now a days, every grocery store carries won ton sheets.  You can often find them in the produce section with the tofu.

Take a package of cold won tons (not frozen).  Slice at a diagonal so you get triangles.
Heat up some vegetable oil to about 350F.  
Once hot, fry won ton traingles.  These take less than 30 seconds to fry up if your oil is hot and ready. 

You can also serve this salad with dutch crunch rolls, or baguettes.  Get creative with it!  Like I said before, there really is no wrong way to do this.