Avocado & Shrimp Spinach Salad

Number of servings: 4
Estimated Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 Chile (red)

1 clove Garlic (chopped)

1 Lime

1 tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon Oil

1/2 pound Shrimp (cooked)

1/4 pound Spinach (fresh)

2 Avocados

Comments

The only tricky part about this recipe is that using avocados usually means planning ahead to allow them a few days at home to ripen.

Use as hot or as mild a pepper as you please. There's nothing wrong with using a green one; red just adds more colour.

For the oil, try to use olive oil or sesame oil.

For the shrimp (prawns), use good sized ones, not canned teeny "salad shrimp" (though the world wouldn't end if you did). Try to buy them already cooked, to save you having to cook them before you start this recipe. If you're buying them frozen, thaw them in advance.

Get good spinach leaves, the young baby flat ones -- not the miserable curled stuff in a cello bag that you can never get the dirt off of. You'd waste 20 minutes trying, and this recipe is meant to be low-labour.

Directions

Wash and zest the lime; set the zest aside, then juice the lime. Set aside.

Slice the chile in half, discard the seeds and stem, then chop the chile up.

Put the chile in a bowl along with the garlic, lime juice and zest, oil and soy sauce. Mix, then add the shrimp and let them marinate. If you're not in a hurry, set it in the fridge for an hour or two.

Remove the shrimp, set aside. Wash and peel the avocados, remove and discard the pits, then slice. Toss the avocado pieces in the dressing, then set aside. Wash and dry the spinach leaves, then toss them in the sauce. Put the spinach leaves in a serving bowl or on a serving platter, then distribute the shrimp and sliced pieces of the avocado on top of the salad.