Black Bean Citrus Salad With Mango & Grilled Citrus-Infused Shrimp

Recipe By Suzanne Virgilio

Serves 4 as a Main Course

Ingredients

• 1--28 oz. can Goya black beans – rinsed and drained (I find if you don’t have time to cook the beans fresh these are next in line for quality and texture)

• 2 ears fresh corn – off the cob and blanched in microwave for 1 minute

• 2 ripe mango, cut into 1/4-inch dice

• 1 cup 1/4-inch diced jicama (about half of a 2-lb. jicama)

• 3 Tbs. minced red onion

• 1/2 cup finely sliced fresh basil (or cilantro, which I LOVE, but basil is a nice surprise)

• 1 lb. wild extra large shrimp – peeled, deveined and partially butterflied

Citrus Vinaigrette

As with any form of “cooking” adjust seasonings to your own likes and dislikes.

• 2 tsp. finely grated orange zest

• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice

• 2 tsp. finely grated lime zest

• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice*(see note)

• 1 Tbsp. honey or granulated sugar

• 1 small finely minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely minced (more if you like “spicy”)

• 1 ½ tsp. ground cumin powder

• 1 large clove garlic – peeled & minced garlic

• 1 tsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper       

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Juicing Limes: Limes can be difficult to juice. A good trick for any citrus fruit, but especially limes is to pierce the fruit with a knife, place in microwavable bowl and heat for a minute or two, depending upon how many limes you want to juice.  Remove from microwave and allow to cool.  You will find the limes have already given up some of their juice, thus the reason for the bowl. Now, the limes will be softer and easier to juice.

 

Procedure

Prepare citrus vinaigrette and remove ½ cup to a medium bowl for the shrimp marinade.

Marinate the peeled and deveined shrimp in the medium bowl while preparing the remainder of the salad. 

As each salad ingredient is prepared, combine in a large bowl and then top with remaining vinaigrette.  Stir well to mix and adjust seasonings to your liking.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

When ready to serve heat grill to high.  Remove shrimp from marinade (discard marinade) and place on prepared skewers. Season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to medium and grill shrimp until golden brown on each side, about 1 ½ minutes per side

Serve with black bean salad topped with a chiffonade of basil garnish and some warm crusty bread to mop up all the delicious flavors  - YUM!

Procedure Notes

 

Sizing your ingredients

 

When making any type of salad it’s important to keep all components the same size.  Use the main component as a measure. In this case the black beans are the main ingredient, so try to keep all other additions to this salad close in size to the black beans.

 

Prepping your shrimp skewers

 

If using wooden skewers, soak in water for at least one hour.  I find that no matter how long I soak them, they still burn!  A good trick to prevent this is when ready to grill shrimp, cover portions of exposed skewers with scallion stalks, and the remove the stalks from the skewers before serving. This way the wooden skewers are insulated and still make for a nice presentation on the plate.  In you don't have scallions, then use foil J

Make Ahead Tips

You can make the salad up to one day ahead and refrigerate, but let it come fully to room temperature before serving. Freshen the flavor of the salad by adding more sliced fresh basil and a squeeze of orange and lime juice just before serving.