Plump shrimp combine with smooth avocado and a classic caesar dressing for a one dish meal that combines strong nutrition with fabulous flavor.
The dressing recipe goes together in a minute, and uses anchovy paste for an umami boost.  One tip for pretty salads is to dress the greens separately from the other ingredients.  Then, just arrange the shrimp and delicate avocado on top of the dressed greens to feel like a kitchen artist.  Click here for a note about shrimp sustainibility.
Many caesar salad recipes use croutons and too much dressing.  I prefer mine with the crunch coming from quality greens, and light dressing.  Enjoy with some baguette for a great meal.  I especially like to serve this for dinner when the weather warms up and you can enjoy dining outside.

Shrimp and Avocado Caesar Salad

for the dressing:
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt (see note below)
1 tsp. anchovy paste
1 1/2 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 TB extra virgin olive oil

In a mortar and pestle grind the garlic clove into a smooth paste with the salt.  Add the anchovy paste and blend.  Add the lemon juice and olive oil and whisk until combined.

For the salad:
(serves two for an entree)
1 head dark green Romaine lettuce, rinsed and dried, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup cooked, cooled, and peeled salad shrimp (100/150 count)
1 avocado, peeled and sliced into wedges
Parmasean cheese, freshly grated
black pepper, freshly ground

Dress the lettuce with about 1/2 the dressing, some parmasean and some pepper.  Arrange on plates, and top with the shrimp and avocado wedges.  Grind a bit more pepper on top and drizzle a little bit more dressing on the shrimp if desired.

note about salt:  Among several other salts, I have Diamond Crystal kosher salt in my pantry.  The reason I am specifying this particular salt in this recipe is that is has a light structure, and works well to crush the garlic into a paste.  Any other salt will work fine, but you will need to reduce to 3/4 tsp. if using Morton’s kosher salt, or 1/2 tsp. for ordinary table salt.