Dangerously Delicious Seafood Salad Adventure

Marie couldn’t have known that she created a monster on New Year’s Eve. Four of us gathered in Estes Park, Colorado, to ring in the new year at a cozy rental cabin — Marie, Daniel, Guillaume, and me. Marie and Dan took charge of the food and drinks. After a course of assorted cheeses and charcuterie on hearty bread squares, Marie presented us with a shrimp, mango, and avocado salad tossed in a lemony dressing. It was delicious. Dangerously so.

I tried to be patient about getting the recipe. I tried not to think about how soon I’d be able to make it and taste those exact flavors again. I even did some online searching in hopes of finding the recipe, but there are a zillion out there for this type of salad and none of the top results had the same ingredients. Maybe I started dreaming about it.

Shortly after Marie sent the recipe to us in French, I translated it into English with American measurements, and began gathering the ingredients. This works best with a ripe mango and ripe avocados. Just make sure they’re not brown or too soft. I also recommend splurging on high-quality sustainable shrimp. It's fine to defrost frozen shrimp. Salad shrimp works, too, but consider adding slightly more than half a pound.

I chopped and placed the ingredients in a bowl. Guillaume helpfully looked up “how to cut a mango” online and walked me through the “hedgehog” technique. At first the salad wasn’t looking quite like Marie’s, but then after mixing it gently a bit with a spoon it was just right. You might be wondering why there’s no added salt. This doesn’t need it.

We paired the dish with a giant lettuce and tomato salad, but frankly what we should have done is invite some other people over to share. Unrestrained, we nearly split the whole thing ourselves. Nearly.

Marie’s Shrimp, Mango, and Avocado Salad

1 ripe mango
2 ripe avocados
½ lb. cooked and deveined shrimp
4 thin slices of smoked salmon
juice of 1 small lemon
1 small bunch chives, minced
4 – 5 Tbsp. olive oil
1 generous Tbsp. French whole grain mustard
Freshly ground black pepper

Prepare the dressing in a small bowl: mustard, lemon juice, 4 to 5 tablespoons of olive oil, and a few turns of freshly ground pepper. Whisk together with a fork, as you would for a vinaigrette. You can add juice from another half of a lemon if desired.

Take out a medium-sized glass bowl. Rinse the avocados and pat them dry. Cut each one in half along the center point between the two ends. Gently dislodge the pit with the point of a knife. Then score the inside of each half with a knife in a grid pattern and use a spoon to scoop out the chunks. It’s a trick that you’ll often see used in high-volume sandwich shops. I picked it up in New York City back in the day. Add the chunks to the bowl.

Rinse the mango and dry it. Following directions from Mango.org, set the mango on your cutting board so the mango is parallel to your knife. Place your knife about ¼ inch from the widest center line and cut down through the mango. Repeat this cut on the other side of the mango. You’re cutting around the seed in the middle. The sliced-off ovals are called “cheeks.”

Score each cheek with your knife similar to the pattern used for the avocados, being careful not to cut through the skin. Turn the cheek inside out by pushing the skin from underneath (it’s a hedgehog!) and slice off the chunks with a knife or spoon, depending on the ripeness. Carefully peel the seed section. Cut off any good fleshy parts around the seed, chop them into bite-sized chunks, and add those to the bowl with the rest.

At this point you can put on plastic gloves if you don’t want your hands smelling like yummy seafood. Cut the salmon into bite-sized pieces. Remove any tails or errant shell pieces from the shrimp and cut them into chunks as well. Add the seafood to the main bowl. Rinse and mince the chives, then add them.

Pour the dressing on the prepared salad and mix well. Serve as a first course or with a large lettuce-based salad. Self-restraint optional. Refrigerate leftovers...if you have any.