Pickled Shrimp Plus
After I wrote about Drew Ward’s pickled-shrimp salad being served at the Governor’s Inaugural Ball on Jan. 9, I got a lot of feedback.
Of course, someone asked for the recipe, and Ward, the executive chef at Noble’s Grille, was happy to oblige.
Ward said he had a great time feeding people at the ball. “I had plenty of shrimp. I just didn’t have enough of all the stuff to go with it. Still, it worked out,” he said. “A lot of people came up and said, ‘Hey, I saw you in the paper.’”
He thought he might see the new governor, but didn’t. “I was more excited about seeing Andy Griffith. But I didn’t see him either,” Ward said.
Ward also mentioned that he got such good reactions to his pickled-shrimp salad that he put it on the menu at Noble’s Grille at 380 Knollwood, Winston-Salem.
Pickled Shrimp Salad
Blanching liquid:
1½ pounds shrimp, peeled with tail-on
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 cup kosher salt
1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 tablespoon celery seeds
2 tablespoons paprika
Water
Pickling mix:
2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup white wine
1 cup water
½ cup olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
2 thinly sliced with peel on
1 red onion thinly julienned
1 cup capers drained
1 to 2 jalapenos, to taste, deseeded and sliced thin crosswise
Salad:
3 Blood oranges
Olive oil
Mache, arugula or other greens
2 avocados
½ bunch fresh parsley leaves
Juice of 1 lime
Salt
2 large sunchokes
1. In large pot, place all blanching ingredients with enough water to hold the shrimp without crowding. Bring mixture to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl of ice water.
2. Once liquid boils, add the shrimp and cook until just begin to curl, about 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately remove shrimp and shock in ice water.
3. Mix all of the pickling ingredients together. Drain the shrimp, place in a glass or plastic container and pour the pickling mixture over to cover. Cover container and refrigerate for 24 hours or up to 3 days.
4. To make the salad, segment the blood oranges. Set the sections aside, then squeeze the bodies to extract as much juice as possible. Mix the juice with olive oil to taste to make a vinaigrette.
5. Mix mache or another light lettuce with enough of the vinaigrette to lightly coat. Add the onion, lemon, capers and jalapeno from the pickling liquid to the salad. (Discard the pickling liquid.)
6. For the avocado puree, add 2 peeled and seeded avocados, a ½ bunch of parsley and 1 lime, pinch of salt to a blender and puree.
7. Slice the sunchokes very thinly on a mandoline. Deep-fry or pan-fryin oil until golden and crisp. Season with salt while they’re hot.
8. To serve each plate, place about a tablespoon of avocado puree on each plate. Place a small amount dressed greens next to the puree. Place about 5 orange segments on the greens. Place 2 shrimp on top of the puree. Garnish with a few slices of sunchokes. (These amounts can be changed to make a larger serving, if desired.)
