Shrimp Salad with Poached Egg

Recipe:

Ingredient Notes:

• Shrimp. The recipe calls for raw frozen shrimp. The recipe calls for the weight of peeled shrimp, without shells.
  If you have only pre-cooked frozen shrimp, thaw them, peel them, and sear them over high heat for half a minute. They are usually already seasoned, so you do not need to add salt.
• Lettuce. I used romaine lettuce. But iceberg, butterhead, or baby spinach would also work. You can add some arugula to the salad for extra flavor.
• Eggs. The default here is a poached egg. If you don’t want to or can’t cook it, you can make a 5-minute boiled egg and add it to the salad cut in half. Or even fry a sunny-side up egg over low heat.
• Basil. This is an important ingredient for the dressing – it creates the main flavor accent. I would not recommend substituting it.
• Tomatoes. I used cherry tomatoes, but depending on the season, your taste and availability, you can use any ripe, large tomato with a rich tomato flavor.
• Olive oil. By default, the dressing is made with extra virgin olive oil. You can use refined oil instead – sunflower oil, olive oil, rapeseed oil, grape seed oil, etc. The flavor of the dressing will be less intense.
• Vinegar. You will need 5-6% vinegar for the dressing. Any white vinegar will do – cider, white wine, sherry vinegar.

Let’s start cooking.

Make the dressing. Place all ingredients in a cup and blend.

Halve the tomatoes (if using a large tomato, cut into thin slices or medium cubes).

Peel the shrimp and remove the vein.

In a frying pan over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of refined vegetable oil. Cook the shrimp for 1 minute on each side, seasoning with salt.

Transfer to a plate.

Tear the lettuce leaves with your hands and place in a large bowl.

Prepare the poached eggs.

Fill the saucepan with water to a level of about 12-14 cm. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat to a minimum – rare bubbles should rise from the bottom of the pot, not a rolling boil. Add salt and distilled white vinegar to the water at the rate of 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon salt for each liter of water. Stir.

Beat the eggs into the bowls one at a time. Do not swirl the water! Just gently drop the eggs into the water one at a time. After each egg is added, gently move it with a spoon so that it does not stick to the bottom. The eggs will gradually rise to the top.

Cook for 3-3.5 minutes.

If your pot is wide enough, you can cook 4 eggs at a time.

Reserve 1/4 of the dressing and toss the rest with the lettuce leaves. Arrange salad on plates. Top with tomatoes, shrimp and eggs. Drizzle with reserved dressing and serve.

Enjoy!