Ensalada de Camarones Recipe

Servings: 6-8

This Puerto Rican style shrimp salad with corn and rice is a great meal on a hot day. If you're short on time, or just feeling impatient, there's a few shortcuts you can take to cut down the prep time as well.

Instead of poaching your own shrimp, feel free to buy pre cooked ones at the store. I like to dress mine in a little lime juice to give them extra life. If corn isn't in season, you can buy frozen fire roasted charred corn at the grocery store and sub that for the fresh corn. I love frozen charred corn and will mix it in with fresh corn to get that roasted flavor.

However, if you have the time and want to take this meal to the next level, cook the fresh corn cobs in some stock with bay leaves and then use that fortified stock as the liquid to cook the rice. The stock is extra sweet and flavorful and passes on all that flavor to the rice.

Recipe featured on Rachael Ray's Meals in Minutes.

Ingredients

For the Rice:

2 T EVOO
1 small onion, chopped
1 red pepper, long or sweet or frying pepper, finely chopped
1 cubanelle pepper, finely chopped
Salt
4 cloves garlic, chopped or grated
4 scallions, whites chopped and greens cut on a bias and reserved to garnish the salad
Pinch of saffron thread
1 ½ cups white long grain rice, I prefer an American basmati
3 cups of chicken or vegetable stock or fortified stock from cooking the corn

For the Salad Dressing:

3 T cider or wine vinegar
½ cup EVOO
Juice 1 lime
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Salad:

2 pounds large prawns or shrimp, peeled and deveined
A few cups of dry white wine
2 limes, juiced
3 ears of corn or 2 cups of defrosted frozen charred corn kernels
3 cups of stock or water
2 bay leaves
Reserved scallion greens from the rice recipe
1 4 ounce jar of chopped pimientos, drained
1 avocado, diced and dressed in the juice of 1 of the limes
1 handful each of parsley and cilantro, chopped

Directions

For the Rice:

For the rice, heat the EVOO over medium high heat in a pot with a lid. Add onion and peppers, season with salt and let soften for a few minutes. Add garlic, scallion whites, pinch of saffron and rice, stir together and cook for 2 minutes. Add stock, cover and cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and fluff before serving.

For the Salad Dressing:

Whisk up all dressing ingredients together in a bowl and reserve for later.

For the Salad:

In a large pot, simmer a couple inches of water with a few cups of white wine. Add in shrimp and poach for 3-5 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the hot water and chill in an ice bath. Drain and dress with the juice of 1 lime. You can also buy precooked shrimp that have already been peeled and deveined for a shortcut. If you use precooked shrimp from the store, still dress with the juice of 1 lime.

If using fresh corn, boil them in stock or water with the bay leaves until cooked through, cut the kernels from the cob and scrape clean. For a shortcut, you can also use 2 cups of frozen charred corn kernels that have been defrosted.

Add shrimp and all other salad ingredients, except the avocado and some of chopped herbs, to a large bowl. Pour dressing over and toss gently to combine. Garnish with the chopped avocado and herbs.

Serve the rice alongside the salad.