Southern Shrimp Salad

Serves 6

Every time my family and I are in Florida we gorge ourselves on seafood salad. I love it on a slightly salty cracker or right out of the fridge when no one’s looking. A scoop of it on salad greens in a martini glass makes a nice lunch.

I like to serve this with a chilled Sauvignon Blanc.

Cheers!

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Make ahead: Best made several hours in advance. Can be made one day ahead; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tip: Heating the flavorful mixture in the cooking water for 5 minutes or more makes it, and therefore the shrimp, really flavorful. Use the same technique for shrimp cocktail. To get shrimp cocktail well-chilled for serving, place a Ziploc bag of ice in a shallow dish. Lay the shrimp on top of the ice-filled bag; cover and chill until ready to serve.

1 (3-ounce) package Shrimp and Crab Boil in a bag, or seasoning
1 lemon, halved
Salt
1 ½  pounds medium shrimp

Dressing:

½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice plus more as needed
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
¼ cup finely chopped sweet onion

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Generous pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup finely chopped celery

2 tablespoons finely chopped chives

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: Chopped chives, lemon slices

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil with the crab boil bag, the halved lemon, and salt. Boil  5 minutes. Add the shrimp; cook at a low boil until pink, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; let stand in the water for 3 minutes. Drain. When the shrimp are cool enough to handle, peel and de-vein. Roughly chop the shrimp. 

In a medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, onion, parsley, garlic powder and cayenne. Stir in the shrimp, celery and chives; mix to coat. Season to taste with salt, pepper and additional lemon juice. Refrigerate until well chilled, 2 hours. 

Garnish with chopped chives and lemon slices..