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Sorry I didn’t post a salad last week for my Summer Salad Series but I was too busy wine tasting in Napa Valley, ha!  Today’s spicy salad will more than make up for my absence and I hope you give it a try!

My mom and sister were visiting me last week and on Thursday I wanted to make a nice lunch and enjoy our backyard for a few hours.  I found this recipe online and then we hit the local grocery store to do some shopping and then we came home to put everything together.  As my sister and I put together this spicy shrimp salad an orzo salad (that I will be sharing next week), my mom made me a double batch of homemade gluten free mac and cheese to have the in freezer for quick fall meals.

I had Ashlie grate the carrots, the toughest part of putting together this dish.  If you don’t feel like using any elbow grease by them pre-grated.  I substitute the hot sauce for 2 tablespoons of siracha and it had just enough kick. Since then I tried it with frank’s red hot sauce and it just as good.  I had shrimp leftover so we put them in the fridge and I made Chris a spicy shrimp wrap the next day for lunch.

Ingredients
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 teaspoons chives, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
1 head iceberg lettuce, torn into pieces (4 cups)
2 cups carrots, grated
2 cups celery, sliced
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup bottled buffalo-wing sauce or hot sauce

Directions
Combine buttermilk, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, parsley, chives and garlic in a bowl; stir well and season with salt and pepper. Chill for 30 minutes.

Toss lettuce, carrots, celery and scallions with buttermilk dressing in a large bowl. Place in serving bowl.

Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and butter. When butter sizzles, add shrimp and cook, stirring, until opaque, about 4 minutes. Add buffalo-wing sauce, stir to coat shrimp and cook 1 minute longer. Pour shrimp and sauce over salad.

We had a nice lunch on our newly transformed picnic table in our backyard.  Ashlie set the table nice and I served the salad in my trifle dish which made for a nice presentation.  Thankfully I could use my sister’s camera to take pictures for this post, can you believe mine is still in the shop?

After lunch we drove through Stanford’s campus and had a visit with our second cousins that live in Palo Alto.

Friday we spent more time exploring the neighborhoods near my house and ended the night with dinner at Buck’s, a favorite Woodside restaurant.  Needless to say, my visit with my mom and sister was way too short, we could have used at least another week together!  I can’t wait for them to come back sometime soon!