Mexican Grilled Shrimp Salad with Beets, Avocado & Tomatillo Salsa

As a desire for the lighter and fresher foods starts to creep in I decided to re-create this wonderful Mexican style salad I had at a restaurant last summer. The shrimp charred on the grill and the beets splashed around in their boiling bath, while I created a tomatillo sauce using three fresh tomatillos and two jalapeno peppers (use one if you don’t want to go into shock). I threw in a little cilantro and a twist of lime, then carved out an avocado. Put all the components over a peppery bed of arugula and serve with some corn tortillas and you’ve got yourself a fresh Mexican style salad.

Ingredients:

For the Salad:

• 1 lb shrimp
• 1 avocado, cut in to thin slices
• 4 cups arugula
• 2 beets, boiled, skin removed

For Tomatillo Salsa:

• 3 medium tomatillos
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• juice of a lime
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

Salad:

I seared these shrimp on a Cuisinart indoor grill, but you can use an outdoor grill or even a pan. Sear until mostly pink and charred in some places for about 5 minutes on each side over high heat.

Boil the beets for about 20 minutes, after which the skin should come right off. Chop into quarters.

Serve the shrimp, peeled and cut avocado and beets over arugula. Add tomatillo salsa to taste.

Tomatillo Salsa:

Collect all the tomatillos, cilantro, lime juice, seeded jalapeno and salt in a food processor and blitz until blended together in a textured salsa. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix salsa into salad and serve with corn tortilla chips.