How can I convert my mom’s delicious shrimp salad redolent with chopped red onion and crisp celery to low fodmap shrimp salad? First of all, I checked the Monash App and it said a .35 serving of celery is OK, so if I add a few thin stalks, chopped, to the entire recipe that serves 4 – 6, each individual serving will only contain about a tbsp, and that is safe.
For the onion substitute, I now chop up the light green stems of several spring onions along with a handful of chive stalks, and that gives the shrimp salad a nice onion flavor. The celery should be fresh and crisp (wash, rinse and dry with paper towels before chopping), the olive oil should be an excellent brand, the light green onion stems and chive stalks should be fresh and nicely diced to bring out their flavor.
As for the shrimp, Trader Joe sells inexpensive and delicious frozen shrimp, both raw and cooked, so use what you like and follow the package directions for getting them ready to add to the salad.
Making a True Italian Shrimp Salad Dressing
When I was in Rome dining at the home of a dear Aunt, since I do not speak Italian and her English is limited, I couldn’t understand her explanation of what was in the shrimp salad dressing,even though I kept nodding my head and smiling during her recipe recitation. She did the same thing while I went on and on praising her seafood salad. It was not a meeting of the minds.
Fortunately, after I got home, I found a wonderful Northern Italian cookbook of my mother’s that explained what goes into an Italian seafood salad. It can contain either extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and capers, or their own version of mayonaise. Apparantly, Italians are very strict about their mayonaise ingredients – no dry mustard, paprika, hot sauce – just egg yolk, olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper.
I make my grandmother’s version using my blender. However, this salad also tastes delicious using a good mayonaise such as Hellman’s. Sometimes, to lessen the calories but improve the flavor, I mix Hellman’s light mayo with their regular mayo. Then I can pretend that this salad is “diet” even though, sadly, it isn’t.
Ingredients:
1 lb fresh or frozen shrimp
1 jar capers in vinegar (1 tbsp per serving of capers in vinegar is fodmap safe)
3 thin stalks plus leaves of celery hearts, chopped fine including leaves
3 to 4 green parts of scallion or spring onions, diced fine for low fodmap
Handful of chopped chives
1/2 cup or more light mayonaise (homemade or commercial)
2 to 3 tbsp mild olive oil (I use Filippo Berio)
Sea Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Squeeze of fresh lemon (optional)
Directions:
Follow the package directions for cooking frozen raw shrimp, but make sure the shrimp are firm and not still slimy and rubbery. You can see I am a bit crazed over undercooked shrimp. If shrimp is frozen and cooked, thaw according to package directions. Set shrimp aside.
For low fodmap, dice up only the light green stems of a few scallions, spring onions and several stalks of chives to get that onion flavoring of mom’s original Italian shrimp salad
Dry the drained shrimp with paper towels until free from water. Then chop up the shrimp, each shrimp cut into three pieces, if you are using medium shrimp, four pieces if using large shrimp. If using jumbo shrimp, heck, I don’t know because I can never afford jumbo shrimp.Anyway place the cut shrimp in the bowl with the celery,onion stems and chives.
Sprinkle the ingredients in the bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper and toss together until all is coated. Taste to see if you have salted enough. Add 1/2 jar of the capers along with 1/2 of the vinegar in the jar and toss again. Then add the mayonaise in 1/4 cup increments, tossing and testing to see if the salad needs more or not.
When all is tossed and you are happy with the way the dressing has adhered – not too much and not too little – you may squeeze some lemon juice over it all, if you want to add another bit of piquancy and freshness to the salad. You can also squeeze lemon juice over the shrimp while it is sitting in the colander draining.
Serve this shrimp salad in a pretty bowl with potato salad, fluffy biscuits, sliced Virginia country ham (living for years in Charlottesville, VA, I learned to serve ham biscuits for every meal but breakfast, and sometimes, even then), and whatever else you like to serve with a celebration luncheon. This recipe serves 6 – 8.
Low Fodmap Shrimp Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh or frozen shrimp
- 1 jar capers in vinegar
- 1 bunch celery hearts chopped fine including leaves
- several diced light green stems of spring onions, or scallions, and diced up stalks of chives
- 1/2 cup or more mayonaise (homemade or commercial)
- 2 to 3 tbsp mild olive oil I use Filippo Berio
- Sea Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Squeeze of fresh lemon optional
Instructions
- Cook shrimp according to package directions
- Remove the large stem core at the end of your hearts of celery. Wash the individual stalks, saving the larger stalks for soup and saving the tender inner stalks and light green leaves for the shrimp salad. Rinse and dry the tender stalks and then finely dice them. Use a cup of diced celery for the salad or more if you just love lots of crunchy celery in your salad or you are trying to stretch it because Uncle Joe and Aunt Blanche showed up again unexpectedly. Place diced celery in a large ceramic bowl. (Per serving you won't exceed the 2 stalk alotment for low fodmap celery safe amounts.
- Dry the drained shrimp with paper towels until free from water. Then chop up the shrimp, each shrimp cut into three pieces, if you are using medium shrimp, four pieces if using large shrimp. If using jumbo shrimp, heck, I don't know because I can never afford jumbo shrimp.Anyway place the cut shrimp in the bowl with the celery and onions.
- Sprinkle the ingredients in the bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper and toss together until all is coated. Taste to see if you have salted enough. Add 1/2 jar of the capers along with 1/2 of the vinegar in the jar and toss again. Then add the mayonaise in 1/4 cup increments, tossing and testing to see if the salad needs more or not.
- When all is tossed and you are happy with the way the dressing has adhered - not too much and not too little - you may squeeze some lemon juice over it all, if you want to add another bit of piquancy and freshness to the salad. You can also squeeze lemon juice over the shrimp while it is sitting in the colander draining.
- Serve this shrimp salad in a pretty bowl with potato salad, fluffy biscuits, sliced Virginia country ham (living for years in Charlottesville, VA, I learned to serve ham biscuits for every meal but breakfast, and sometimes, even then), and whatever else you like to serve with a celebration luncheon. This recipe serves 6 - 8.
