Description
This zesty Mexican shrimp cocktail blends fresh seafood with tangy citrus and crisp vegetables. Chilled and refreshing, the dish offers a perfect balance of flavors you’ll savor on warm summer days.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb (454 g) large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 avocados, ripe, chopped
- 3 Roma or plum tomatoes, diced
- 12 oz (340 g) cocktail sauce
- ½ cup red onion, diced
- ⅓ cup cilantro, fresh, chopped (plus extra for garnish)
- 1 jalapeño, seeded as desired, finely diced
- 2 limes, fresh
- salt, to taste (plus extra to cook shrimp if needed)
- tortilla chips or saltine crackers, for serving
Instructions
- Salsa Preparation: Meticulously dice tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeño into a spacious mixing bowl, ensuring uniform, vibrant pieces that promise explosive flavor.
- Flavor Infusion: Splash freshly squeezed lime juice and sprinkle salt over the vegetable medley, gently tossing to harmonize the ingredients and awaken their natural essence.
- Sauce Integration: Blend cocktail sauce into the vegetable mixture, creating a robust, tangy foundation that will elevate the seafood’s delicate profile.
- Shrimp Processing: Cleanse raw shrimp under cold water, draining thoroughly and removing tails if preferred, preparing them for their culinary transformation.
- Cooking Technique: Immerse shrimp in a rolling, salted water bath, monitoring their metamorphosis from translucent to blush-pink, signaling perfect doneness, then swiftly transfer to an ice water bath to halt cooking and preserve their tender, succulent texture.
- Composition Assembly: Slice majority of shrimp into bite-sized morsels, strategically reserving whole specimens for an elegant presentation, then fold chopped seafood into the prepared salsa mixture, ensuring even distribution.
- Final Touches: Moments before serving, delicately dice creamy avocados and shield their pristine freshness with a protective drizzle of lime juice, then artfully layer the shrimp cocktail in transparent glasses, alternating between seafood mixture and avocado cubes.
- Garnishing and Serving: Crown each serving with whole reserved shrimp, additional avocado cubes, and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, accompanied by crisp tortilla chips or traditional saltine crackers.
- Advance Preparation: For optimal flavor development, construct the vegetable base and cocktail sauce several hours in advance, refrigerating until service to intensify and meld the intricate flavor profile.
Notes
- Prevent Shrimp Overcooking: Watch carefully during boiling; shrimp turns tough and rubbery when cooked beyond 2-3 minutes. Color change from translucent to opaque pink indicates perfect doneness.
- Maximize Flavor Infusion: Allow salsa mixture to rest for 15-20 minutes before adding shrimp, enabling ingredients to develop deeper, more complex taste profiles.
- Preserve Avocado Freshness: Lime juice acts as natural preservative, preventing browning and maintaining vibrant green color. Add avocado just before serving to retain optimal texture.
- Strategic Make-Ahead Preparation: Vegetable base and cocktail sauce can be prepared up to 8 hours in advance, storing separately in refrigerator to maintain crisp ingredients and prevent soggy texture.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Appetizer, Lunch, Dinner
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5
- Calories: 290
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 900 mg
- Fat: 15 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 18 g
- Cholesterol: 160 mg