Fiesta macque choux salad
Instructions:
- Macque Choux is an early Louisiana dish that borrows its name from the Creole word for corn, maque, and the French word for cabbage, choux. Although cabbage doesn’t appear in the dish today, it is believed to have been in the original vegetable casserole. Today, macque choux is a baked corn and shrimp dish enjoyed by the Cajuns of River Road. This fiesta salad gives the two-hundred-year-old recipe a Mexican twist.
- 11⁄4 c (300 ml) olive oil;
- 1⁄2 c (120 ml) white wine vinegar;
- 1⁄4 c (60 ml) lime juice;
- 1⁄4 c (57 g) cilantro leaves;
- 1 avocado, diced.
- Ingredients for Salad
- 2 dozen (16–20 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined;
- 1⁄2 c (120 ml) lime juice;
- 1⁄4 c (60 ml) lemon juice;
- 1⁄2 c (120 ml) tequila;
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) triple sec;
- 1 tbsp (14 g) chopped basil;
- 1 tbsp (14 g) chopped thyme;
- Salt;
- Cayenne pepper;
- 1–2 red bell peppers;
- 1–2 yellow bell peppers;
- 1 c (225 g) whole-kernel corn;
- 1 c (225 g) diced Creole tomatoes;
- 1⁄2 c (113 g) diced zucchini;
- 1⁄2 c (113 g) canned black beans, rinsed;
- 1⁄2 c (113 g) diced Bermuda onions;
- 1 tbsp (14 g) minced jalapeños;
- 1⁄4 c (57 g) chopped cilantro;
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil.
- Combine olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, and cilantro in a food processor. Pulse for 1 minute. Add avocado and pulse again until blended. Do not overblend. Pour vinaigrette into a bowl and chill. In a large mixing bowl, combine shrimp, lime juice, lemon juice, tequila, triple sec, basil, and thyme. Season with salt and cayenne pepper. Toss and marinate shrimp in refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes. While shrimp are marinating, roast red and yellow bell peppers directly over an open flame or under the broiler, turning frequently, until skin blisters and blackens. Place hot peppers in a brown paper bag and let sit for 10–15 minutes. Peel blistered skin from peppers under cold running water. Seed and dice peppers. In a large bowl, toss peppers, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, black beans, onions, jalapeños, and cilantro. Set aside. Remove shrimp from marinade. Discard marinade. In a heavy-bottomed sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté shrimp 2–3 minutes or until pink and curled. Remove from pan. Toss shrimp and roasted pepper salad with 1⁄2 cup of avocado vinaigrette. Garnish the rim of a large margarita glass by dipping it in lime juice and minced cilantro. Fill glass with salad. Garnish with lime slice. Serve with tortilla chips.
- Matching wine with salad is always a tricky issue. The keys to matching wine with a salad involve two characteristics: tartness and richness. In the preparation of a salad, the chef should ensure the acidity is not so high that wine pairing will become impossible. In this case, a relatively safe bet is a crisp white such as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.