Avocado w/ Grilled Shrimp Soup

Apology in advance and full discretion: My camera was too loved over this past weekend in Seattle and its battery just couldn't take anymore, resulting in death of battery right before my cooking session began.  The photos are post-production and I am ever so sorry...  Please and thanks continue to love me despite this irresponsible misstep.

I received a wonderful cookbook from my mom about a year ago and until yesterday I had yet to try any of the recipes.  Its The Daily Soup Cookbook, all recipes coming from the infamous soup/salad/sammy restaurant in NYC.  There were several things standing in my way... not actually owning a stockpot, not having the balls to make my own stocks (just going to the butcher and asking for "chicken backs and necks" is enough to send me straight to the soup aisle ISO neatly nicely canned chicken stock.  i mean... yikes), and some of these ingredients I've never, ever heard of which means finding this item would include a little research and a lot of wandering around already unfamiliar grocery stores.  So here's how I finally took the plunge and made my very first Daily Soup soup.  Three stars aligned: 1) freakishly hot indian summer day called for a COLD soup, 2) ventured to Berkeley Bowl for the first time and will never need to see another grocery store as long as I live and 3) I suppose I felt up for a challenge (thank god, cuz it was a lot of work...)

The soup I chose to make this fateful day was the Avocado with Grilled Shrimp.  I forgot to buy skewers for the grill because I was so in awe of the amazingness that is Berkeley Bowl so I ended up broiling the shrimpies (totally fine, equally delicious).  Note to self and all who are as inexperienced with cooking as I am - don't be an idiot!  Don't buy shrimp that have not already been shelled and deveined.  I made this mistake yesterday and as a result spent about an hour just prepping the shrimp, worrying all the while that the shrimp had already gone bad (they hadn't, I'm just neurotic) and thinking to myself "doesn't it mean they're cooked when they're pink?  they look a little pinker than grey like they were when i bought them... what does this all MEAN?!"

Everything was fine, people.  Don't get your apron in a bunch (like I did).  I did make a nice little ice bath for my shrimpies to sit in while I prepped away.  That may or may not have helped... it at least made me feel better minus the cold fingers.

 

The rest was a piece of cake.  Seeding the beefsteak tomatoes was slightly annoying but I used a grapefruit spoon to do that job and was once again glad I own grapefruit spoons (thanks Mrs. Leinss :) and also amazed at my own genius... ha.  Try this served with tortilla chips (it is a lot like salsa with an excuse to eat it with a spoon b/c its called soup) or with a yummy toasted bread of some sort.

Avocado with Grilled (or broiled) Shrimp
adapted from The Daily Soup Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 Haas avocados, seeded and cut into 1/4" cubes
6 beefsteak tomatoes (about 4 lbs), halved and seeded, seeds reserved
1 cup basic vegetable stock
1 pickled jalapeno
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup parsley (totally optional)

Directions:
1.  In a shallow dish combine 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice, olive oil, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and pepper.  Add shrimp and coat well with the mixture.  Let stand 5 minutes.

2.  Preheat a grill, grill pan or broiler.

3.  Grill or broil the shrimp 2 minutes per side until they're bright red and cooked through.  Remove from heat and set aside.

4.  In a small bowl, combine avocado cubes with remaining tablespoon of lemon juice, set aside.

5.  After halving and seeding tomatoes, cut half of the tomatoes into a dice and set aside.

6.  In a blender or food processor, combine the remaining tomatoes, all of the tomato seeds, vegetable stock, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, jalapeno and garlic cloves.  Puree until smooth.

7.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in diced tomatoes, grilled shrimp, avocado mixture, cilantro and red onion.

8.  Serve chilled.  Garnish with parsley if you want, I guess... (I hate parsley).  Include a bowl of tortilla chips or toasted baguette as edible spoons.

Enjoy this dish before summer is over!  If you're one of my Minnesota loves, I'm so sorry your summer is probably over.  It'll be 84 degrees in Oakland today... I think I'll have leftovers.