You’ll Selfishly Want This Shellfish Salad All to Yourself…
Keeping you cool and refreshed all summer long
Big Night is a beautiful shop in NYC (two shops, actually, one in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and the other in Manhattan’s West Village) that sells gorgeously designed and specially curated kitchen and party goods that’ll help you throw the greatest bash ever…perfect for a, well, big night! And luckily for us, founder Katherine Lewin has shared a fantastic recipe that’s cool, refreshing and sure to be the star of your next big night — coincidentally, it’s also in her new book of the same name. There are over 80 recipes, organized seasonally for the chronologically inclined, straight from an expert in entertaining and the NYC food scene. Get this book, and your night will be anything but tiny…or even midsized.
Imagine you get a phone call: (Your version of) the Queen is coming over. For lunch. This afternoon. What will you serve?!? If I received a phone call saying the Queen — or Nora Ephron, Diane Keaton, Joan Didion, Beyoncé, my grandmother, or any of the other most important and iconic people in my life — was coming over, I would make this dish. Le grand aioli is a traditional French recipe that — in an ever-so-French way — is more like an idea, not of what to eat for lunch, but rather, how to eat it.
Le grand aioli does have, yes, aioli — but more than that, it’s an excuse to gather a baby bassinet’s worth of produce on a big, beautiful platter and go to town dipping. Anything can be le grand, and this shrimp salad is proof.
Le Grand Shrimp Salad
Servings: 6-8
Copy Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 ½ to 2 lbs. jumbo shrimp (preferably 16/20s), peeled and deveined (see note)
- 2 fennel bulbs, or 6 celery stalks, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Hot sauce
- Spicy-Creamy Shrimp Sauce (recipe follows)
Spicy-Creamy Shrimp Sauce
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of ½ lemon, plus more if needed
- ¼ cup cornichons, chopped
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp. hot sauce (I like Tabasco), plus more to taste
- 2 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
- 1 Tbsp. hot smoked paprika
- 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
- 2 Tbsp. minced fresh chives, plus more for serving (optional)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For serving
- 1 large head radicchio and/or butter lettuce leaves
- Raw radishes, snap peas, Persian cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and/or celery, whole or sliced lengthwise
- Blanched asparagus or green beans (optional)
- Jammy eggs (optional)
- Ritz crackers
Directions
Copy Directions
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Make the sauce: In a medium bowl, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, cornichons, mayonnaise, mustard, hot sauce, horseradish, paprika, garlic powder, and chives (if using) and stir. Season with salt, pepper, and more hot sauce and/or lemon juice to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. The sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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Meanwhile, make the shrimp salad: Fill a large pot with 10 cups of water. Halve the lemon and squeeze the juice into the water, then add the spent halves. Stir in the salt and sugar. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat
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Fill a large bowl with cold water and a few cups of ice and set aside.
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When the water is boiling, stir in the shrimp and turn off the heat. Cook the shrimp, uncovered, until bright pink and opaque, about 3 minutes.
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Use a slotted spoon or spider to transfer the shrimp to the ice bath to cool for 10 minutes. Drain the shrimp, then pat dry. Roughly chop.
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Dry the bowl you used for the ice bath and place the chopped shrimp in it, along with the fennel and scallions. Add half the sauce, toss to combine, then season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.
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Transfer to a serving bowl or platter. The shrimp salad is ready to go now, but you can cover and chill for up to 4 hours before serving, if desired.
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Pour the remaining sauce into a small bowl or dish, spritz it with a little lemon juice, stir and top with some minced chives if you’re feeling fancy.
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Now gather your dippables: Season your lettuce leaves with salt and pile on the shrimp salad (or their own) platter. Add raw and/or blanched vegetables alongside, seasoning with a sprinkle of salt. If including jammy eggs, slice them lengthwise, season with salt and pepper, and nestle them into the platter. Add handfuls of Ritz to the platter (not optional) and serve.
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Chef’s Note: If you’re low on time or energy, feel free to use cooked shrimp from the grocery store. That’s not something I’d advise if we were having, say, shrimp cocktail (where the shrimp is the lone ingredient), but since we’re dousing it in a dressing that packs a lot of punch, I fully support this shortcut if you just don’t have it in you to cook it yourself.
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