Saturday, July 9, 2011

Grandma's Shrimp Salad...kinda'


My Grandma Brown made the best shrimp salad.  My aunts make it now and their's is just as good.  Last week I made some shrimp salad in the tradition of Grandma Brown and my brother said it was the best shrimp salad he had ever eaten, and I liked it too.  So I thought I'd write it down for the next time that I want to do it.  This isn't a tested recipe so I'm sorry I don't have exact measurements on everything.  Grandma made it with tiny pasta shells rather than elbow macaroni.  I like the elbow macaroni because it is shaped like shrimp.  Use whatever you have.  I'm sure Grandma never used greek yogurt but everything else is pretty close to the way she made it (I think).  I think that what made my brother say it was the best was the amount of salt I put in but it could be the combination of yogurt and homemade salad dressing that I used.

I had some frozen shrimp in the freezer but they were large so I just cut them up into pieces about the size of a pea.  I think grandma used tiny canned shrimp.  I think it is best with some kind of fresh or frozen shrimp rather than canned.

I hate Miracle Whip, I'm a mayonnaise girl all the way, but this salad really screams for Miracle Whip! Because I don't buy Miracle Whip (or mayonnaise for that matter) I made my own "salad dressing" the same way I make mayonnaise, only I added about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar for the acid and about 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, a pinch of salt, and 1 teaspoon of dry mustard to 1 egg and 1 cup oil.  Check out how I do it  here.  If you don't want to make your own use good ol' Miracle Whip, no problem.

This is a great salad for those summer pot lucks. Just check with me if you are going to bring it to a pot luck I'm at.


Grandma B's Shrimp Salad

About 1 lb elbow macaroni (tiny pasta shells)
1 stalk of celery, chopped
about 5 green onions, chopped
about 5-6 chopped hard boiled eggs
Shrimp (about the size of the pasta)
1 cup Miracle Whip
about 3/4 cup greek yogurt
salt to taste

Cook the elbow macaroni in well salted water.  Drain, and run cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking and cool the pasta.  Drain the pasta well.  Taste the pasta for saltiness, add salt to taste.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.