Grilled Shrimp, Avocado & Mandarin Salad

Why on earth do I have a little plastic cup of mandarin orange slices in syrup in my fridge?

Because I was babysitting for my 5 year old niece and bought these for her after school snack. I had one cup left, so decided to create a salad around them!

Of course, next time I will use regular mandarins (also known as mandarines) that come in a net bag, but these happened to fit the bill perfectly! You can also use clementines or oranges for this fantastic warm weather salad.

We got a little tease of warm weather so I decided to break out the grill!

Grilled Shrimp, Avocado & Mandarin Salad:
(serves 4)

Salad:

1 bunch of arugula, washed (or 1 bag of prewashed arugula/rocket)
1 large ripe avocado, cut into slices
1 lb. shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 mandarin oranges, peeled and cut into segments, (they are small like clementines, but sweeter), or a cup of sliced mandarins in syrup, drained



Dressing:

3 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp zest of a mandarin or orange
6 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 small shallot, minced (you can substitute red onion for shallot, did you know that?)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt

chives for garnish (optional...I had them in the garden)

Make your dressing first and taste for seasoning. I usually like a little more vinegar in my dressings.

Spoon about 1/4 of the dressing over the shrimp in a nonreactive bowl (Pyrex glass pie dish works fine) and marinate for 30 minutes.



Meanwhile, get the salad ready. You will grill the shrimp last.

Lay your washed arugula on a platter.
Scatter mandarin slices around the greens.

Remove pit from avocado and scoop out 2 halves with a spoon and cut into slices.
Lay on top of the arugula and orange slices. Sprinkle the avocado slices with finely ground sea salt (or kosher salt).

Make sure your grill is nice and hot and grill the shrimp on medium high flame for about 3 minutes total, don't overcook them.



Top the salad with the warm shrimp and spoon the rest of the dressing over all ingredients. Garnish with fresh chives.

Serve immediately.



We love this salad best in the warm weather, and it's pretty too!