Recipe Maverick

 I live in Davis, California, where the weather is sometimes intolerably hot. Today, for instance, it was in the upper nineties for most of the afternoon and tomorrow we’re supposed to see temperatures over 100. When it’s hot outside, I find myself craving salads with lots of crunchy lettuce and fresh vegetables. Meaty stews and starchy sides go out the window, replaced by the delicate saltiness of seafood.
    My dinner tonight was composed of various ingredients I had that needed to be used up: some lettuce, some shrimp, and a few pieces of extremely stale sourdough bread. Put together, they became a refreshing shrimp salad, the perfect light dinner for a hot summer day.

Ingredients:
6 jumbo shrimp, precooked and preseasoned
2-3 large Romaine lettuce leaves, torn into pieces
1/2 carrot, cut into thin rounds
1 crimini mushroom, sliced
1-2 pieces of stale sourdough bread
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

* makes enough for 1 person

You can buy pre-cooked, pre-seasoned shrimp at the grocery store and keep it in an airtight container in the freezer for several months, cooking a few shrimp at a time as you need them. This is what I used when I made the recipe, although you can certainly cook and season your own shrimp if you prefer.
    First, put your stale bread in the toaster and toast it until it barely begins to brown. While the bread toasts, prepare all the vegetables- wash and break the lettuce up into pieces, and chop the carrot and mushroom. Next, cut the toast into squares about 1/2 inch across. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan, and put the bread squares in the oil. Cook, stirring and turning them over, until the croutons are crispy and browned on both sides. Remove the croutons from the frying pan, and put the frozen shrimp in. Cook the shrimp until they are heated through and browned on both sides. Mix all the vegetables together with the croutons in a bowl, place the shrimp on top, and squeeze fresh lemon juice over the salad. Enjoy!