I made the yummiest salad this week using a recipe from the great cooking magazine, Louisiana Cookin’. (For the original recipe, see www.louisianacookin.com/shrimp-mango-ceviche/.) The recipe was entitled “Shrimp and Mango Ceviche,” but in my book, it wasn’t really a ceviche because it didn’t start with raw seafood “cooked” in citrus juices. Plus, it had mayo, which no self-respecting ceviche should have. I made a few tweaks to the recipe and renamed it “Tropical Shrimp Salad” to better represent what I think the salad should be called.

I started out with two pounds of large Gulf shrimp. None of this Indonesia shrimp for my family! I shelled, cleaned, and halved the shrimp. I juiced 4 limes, 2 lemons, and 1 orange and then gently poached the shrimp in the citrus juice. When the shrimp was barely pink, I discarded the juices and set the shrimp aside to cool.

While the shrimp was cooling, I added 1/2 cup diced red onion, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint, and 1 tablespoon diced seeded jalapeno to a large bowl. (True confession — I didn’t really measure any of this.) I was so excited to be able to use chives, mint, and jalapeno straight from me garden :-). I cut 1 cup of cherry tomatoes in half and used my finger to clean out the inside of each half so I wasn’t adding seeds and tomato juice to the mixture. I’m not much of a fan of cutting mangoes, but I’ve found that canned mango is a great substitute. For my salad, I drained the can and diced the fruit.

To finish the salad, I added the cooled shrimp, mango, a few pinches of salt, and two tablespoons of mayonnaise to the mixture and then stirred to combine. I put this all in the fridge to chill and meld the flavors.

When I was ready to serve, I halved an avocado and dumped some spoonsful of salad onto the top. I served it with tortilla chips on the side. Dan the Man loved this, and so did I. While it was a little bit labor intensive, it was most definitely worth the effort. This recipe is a keeper!