Shrimp and Cucumber Salad

Shrimp and Cucumber Salad, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

New parenthood means the meal you meant to fix on Tuesday may not actually get made until Sunday- we are still working out the kinks of meal planning, shopping, and preparing.

(Although, actually, I meant to prepare this salad for a period of about three weeks a few months ago, and kept running into issues- a dodgy batch of scallops, then salad greens gone iffy, then cucumber used for something else- perhaps this should be the Elusive Salad With Scallops or Shrimp and Cucumbers.)

Anyway, the salad was simple- you scoop the seeds out of some cucumber, slice it thinly (I skipped the half hour salting and since we ate pretty promptly there was not much of a watery cucumber issue)- then make a quick dressing and toss the cucumbers with it. Then you cook the shrimp (and I would take issue with the Minimalist's method, which called for tossing the shrimp with oil and cayenne pepper and then cooking in a hot, empty skillet- it was a recipe for sticking. Put some oil on the shrimp AND the skillet and I think you're in business) and then compose the salad- greens on the bottom, cucumbers above, shrimp above that and then a drizzle of sesame oil. I used Sally Schneider's five flavor oil, which is a condiment my fridge cannot live without, instead. And it was heavenly- the shrimp were just frozen TJ's but must have been an exceptional batch, because they were so tender and delicious, and the dressing and the oil were both so light- definitely a meal we'll want to eat a lot more of once summer rolls around.