Zesty Shrimp Salad

 When I was a little girl my mother used to take me shopping and out to lunch at Stix, Baer & Fuller, now Dillards, for spring and fall clothes, and around Christmas time for special holiday wear.  I loved these outings.  From my small little vantage point, everything looked so large and spectacular.

The dining room would always be filled with ladies in fine attire, chattering away as they munched on chicken salad sandwiches and drank cocktails.  Mother found chicken salad mundane, so she would order the shrimp salad on cheese bread.  It always looked delicious, and I was torn, but I seldom varied from my usual hamburger, Jell-O, and chocolate milk.

The other day I was thinking about that shrimp salad sandwich, longing to be that little girl again, perched on a chair, swinging my legs, watching the shopping ladies while waiting for my lunch. I also longed for a shrimp salad sandwich on cheese bread.  So, I made one.  Now my cheese bread, though delicious, isn’t quite as cheesy as I had hoped, so I’m not going to share that recipe with you until it is perfected, but the shrimp salad is delish. So here is the recipe for half of the component of the sandwich.  By the end of next week I hope to be able to provide you with the bread recipe to make this little bit of vintage sandwich perfection.

Zesty Shrimp Salad

1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning

1-2 drops of Melissa’s Red Savina Hot Sauce
2 tablespoons Melissa’s Fire Roasted Red Peppers, chopped
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped celery

Cook shrimp in medium pot of boiling salted water until done, about 4 minutes. Drain shrimp and cool; set aside. Combine mayonnaise, Old Bay, and hot sauce in a large bowl. Stir in roasted red peppers, scallions, celery, and shrimp. Toss to blend well. Season to taste with salt and pepper; add additional hot sauce to taste.

Cheese Brioche Loaf...a masterpiece in the making.  Stay tuned!

This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

My Mother's Recipes

 This is my mother's recipe box. Or, rather, this was my mother's recipe box. It is still very difficult for me to think of her in the past tense. This is the one thing, more than anything else, that I most wanted after she passed away. It is no ordinary recipe box. My father made it, I painted it, and my mother filled it with decades of culinary history. I had considered cleaning it up, and touching up the paint, but thought that I would leave it exactly as it was when it sat on her counter now that it has taken up permanent residence on mine. 

This box was just one of the many craft items that my mother and I made to sell at our annual holiday bazaars, a tradition that began in the seventies and lasted for two decades. We always enjoyed doing crafts. She was the seamstress, I was the stitcher and painter, and for a while, my aunt joined us contributing her extensive designs of dough ornaments. As we became more experienced and mature, so did our offerings. Looking back at the early pictures makes me wonder how we managed to sell anything, much less sell out in the course of mere hours.

Here was are, ca. 1977, l-r me, my mom, my aunt.

Here is an assortment of our handmade items.

 In addition to selling our handmade wares, we spent two days prior to the sale (always held the first weekend in December) baking cookies, candies, cakes, pies, breads and sweet rolls. When I look back on these energetic and productive days, I wonder how we ever did it. 

The secrets to a lot of our sought after baked goods are contained within this box. One day I invited my aunt and cousin over for lunch and to sort through the recipes.  It was like taking a walk back in time as each of us had own our memories of different recipes and how and when the prepared dish had been served. 

I'm going to share both recipes and memories with you here on the blog beginning tomorrow. Tell me about the recipes from your past that have the most meaning for you.

This post is linked to: 

 Mosaic Monday

My Favorite Things
Martha's Favorites
Tablescape Thursday
Good Life Wednesdays

Be Inspired Friday

Show and Tell Friday