Shrimp And Cucumber Salad With Horseradish Mayo Recipes

Steps:

• Make the horseradish mayonnaise by whisking together the mayonnaise, horseradish, vinegar, some salt, pepper, and more horseradish, if desired; fold in tarragon.
• Line a baking sheet with paper towels to drain the shrimp once it is poached.
• In a large, wide pot, combine dill, shallot, peppercorns, bay leaf, 3 tablespoons salt, squeeze the juice from both lemon halves, then drop in the lemon halves; add 3 quarts of water and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium and let poaching liquid simmer for 10 minutes.
• Working in batches, place the shrimp in a sieve, lower into the poaching liquid, shaking now and then, until shrimp begins to curl and turn opaque, 15-20 seconds; transfer to paper towels to cool.
• Combine cucumber, cooled shrimp, and 1/4 cup of the horseradish mayonnaise and fold to coat; season with salt, pepper, and more horseradish, if desired.

Steps:

• Whisk mayonnaise, 1/4 cup horseradish, and vinegar in a small bowl to blend. Season horseradish mayonnaise to taste with salt, pepper, and more horseradish, if desired. Fold in tarragon.
• line a baking sheet with paper towels. Combine dill, next 3 ingredients, and 3 tablespoons salt in a large wide pot. Squeeze juice from lemon halves into pot; add lemon halves. Add 3 quarts water and bring to a boil. reduce heat to medium; simmer poaching liquid for 10 minutes.
• Working in batches, place shrimp in a sieve and poach, shaking sieve occasionally, until shrimp just begin to curl and turn opaque, 15-20 seconds. Transfer to prepared sheet; let cool.
• Combine cucumber, shrimp, and 1/4 cup horseradish mayonnaise in a medium bowl; fold to coat. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more horseradish, if desired. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill shrimp and remaining mayonnaise separately.

Steps:

• Slice cucumbers approximately 1/8 inch thick.
• Sprinkle sliced cucumbers with salt and let stand for 15 minutes; rinse, drain and pat dry.
• Mix together the vinegar, sugar, mustard, horseradish and dill. Add to cucumbers along with the sliced onions. Let stand for 15 minutes.
• This will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

Steps:

• Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add bay leaf, thyme sprig, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Reduce heat to a simmer and add shrimp. Cook shrimp until shells turn red, only a minute or two. Transfer to a large bowl of cold water, let cool, then peel and set aside.
• Meanwhile, put beets in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook at a brisk simmer until tender when tested with a skewer, about 20 minutes. Remove and let cool on a plate until just cool enough to touch. Slip off beet skins and discard. Cut beets into small wedges. Put in a bowl, season generously with salt and pepper, and add vinegar and oil. Toss and let marinate for 15 minutes. (You may prepare beets up to a day ahead.)
• Make the rémoulade: Stir together crème fraîche, mustard, cayenne, horseradish and capers. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, and stir in tarragon, parsley and dill. Refrigerate for an hour (or as long as overnight). Just before serving, stir in lemon juice and check seasoning.
• Assemble the salad just before serving: Make a bed of watercress on a large platter. Spoon beets and any juices evenly over watercress, then sprinkle celery slices over top. Arrange shrimp here and there and surround with hard-cooked egg halves. Give a last, very light sprinkle of salt and serve. Pass rémoulade at the table.

Steps:

• To make the dressing, in a small bowl, combine the lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, water, and chiles and stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside to develop the flavors.
• Trim off the ends of each cucumber, and then halve lengthwise. Use a teaspoon to remove the seeds from each half (the English cucumbers will have few seeds). Cut the halves crosswise into slices a scant 1/8 inch thick. A razor-sharp knife or a Japanese Benriner slicer (page 22) produces the most attractive, uniformly thin slices. A food processor can be used but will yield less satisfactory results. Put the cucumbers and carrot in a large bowl, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt and the sugar, and toss to mix. Set aside for 30 minutes to weep. A pool of juice will accumulate at the bottom of the bowl.
• Drain the cucumbers and carrot in a colander and place under cold running water to rinse off as much salt and sugar as possible. Working in batches, wring out excess moisture in a nonterry dish towel: position a mound of the vegetables in the center, roll it up in the towel, and then twist the ends in opposite directions to force out the liquid. Do this 3 or 4 times. You want to extract enough water from the cucumber yet not completely crush it. (The cucumber will become a beautiful translucent green, in marked contrast to the color of the carrot.) Return the vegetables to the bowl and fluff them up to release them from their cramped state. Set aside.
• Trim any excess fat from the pork chop. Fill a small saucepan half full with water, add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Drop in the chicken breast and pork chop. When the water starts bubbling at the edges of the pan, remove the pan from the heat and cover tightly. Let stand for 20 minutes. The pork and chicken should be firm yet still yield a bit to the touch. Remove them from the pan. Reserve the light stock for another use or discard. When the pork and chicken are cool enough to handle, cut the pork into matchsticks, and shred the chicken with your fingers into thin pieces, pulling the meat along its natural grain. Let the pork and chicken continue to cool to room temperature and then add them to the vegetables.
• Place the shrimp in a colander and rinse with cold running water, then press gently to drain well. Add the shrimp to the bowl of vegetables and meat.
• Just before serving, add the peanuts and sesame seeds to the salad and toss to distribute evenly. Pour on the dressing and toss again. (If you don't want to bite into a piece of chile unexpectedly, strain the dressing over the salad.) Taste and adjust the flavors to your liking, balancing the sour, sweet, salty, and spicy. Transfer to a serving plate, leaving any unabsorbed dressing behind, and serve.
• notes
• You may ready the vegetables, pork and chicken, and shrimp a day in advance. Keep them in separate covered containers in the refrigerator, and return them to room temperature before tossing the salad. The dressing may be prepared several hours in advance.
• For a lighter salad, omit the pork and/or chicken and double the amount of shrimp. Or, you may eliminate the shrimp and add more pork or chicken. Whatever you decide, include at least one of these elements, as they lend richness to the salad.
• Special-Occassion Salads
• If you ask the cook, "What's on today's menu?" and the response includes a gôi or nôm, you know it is a special occasion. Gôi and nôm typically refer to colorful salads of meat, seafood, vegetables, herbs, peanuts, and sesame seeds usually served as a separate first course, instead of a side dish. Both words refer to the same type of dish, with gôi the everyday term in southern and central Vietnam and nôm in the north.
• These salads represent a careful balancing act among different flavors, colors, and textures, and a skilled Vietnamese cook runs through a mental checklist to make sure all three bases have been covered. One ingredient-vegetable, fruit, meat, fish, shellfish-usually makes up the bulk in the salad. If it naturally carries a lot of moisture, the first task is to expel the excess water, so that the ingredient will be relatively dry and crunchy. For example, cucumber and green papaya are tossed with salt and sugar to release their water and are then wrung out in a kitchen towel. Tiny raw silverfish are cooked and then drained. (Green cabbage is an exception, since it already has plenty of crunchiness and is not naturally moist.) Then the magic happens. When everything is combined, the main ingredient absorbs all of the other flavors like a sponge.
• Vietnamese food aficionados may tell you that gôi comes in more complex guises, built from exotic ingredients such as raw fish and sauces made from fish innards and astringent bananas, than you will find in this chapter. They are right, but it is these simpler salads that regularly appear on most Vietnamese tables.

Steps:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; rinse with cold water., In a large bowl, mix sour cream, mayonnaise, horseradish sauce, onion, seasoned salt and pepper. Stir in shrimp, cucumber, celery and pasta. Refrigerate until serving. If desired, serve on lettuce.

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, toss together cucumber, onion, jalapeno, hearts of palm, orange juice, and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.
• Dust shrimp with cumin, coriander, and oregano; season with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 teaspoons oil over high heat.
• Add half the shrimp; cook until browned on both sides and opaque in the center, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining 2 teaspoons oil and shrimp.
• To serve, spoon shrimp over cucumber salad.