SHRIMP STUFFED DEEP FRIED AVOCADO!

This is one of my crazy ideas that should have fallen into the category of “WTH?”But after tasting it, Holy Mother of All Things Fried, it’s screaming good! Stuffing an avocado with shrimp has been a middle of the night fascination of mine for years, but I could never muster the courage to chance ruining a perfectly good Haas and some Sweet Bay Shrimp. Now that I have, I shoulda done it years ago! Chilling the stuffed and breaded avocado prior to frying protects the exterior and makes the flesh creamy, while the shrimp retain their chill and firm bite on the inside.

On the negative side, it’s not the easiest dish if you have a fear of frying. Also, it needs to be served immediately (unless you’re so freaking happy about the result you pull the 2nd half out of the fridge and eat it cold). I would have rather used Panko Breadcrumbs, but at crunch time I realized I was out. Please let me pont out the obvious here before I get skewered on the interweb; Yes I could have just deep fried each half and then topped them with shrimp salad. But that would not have reconciled my recurring nocturnal vision. I had a mission to prove it could be done, sort of like Richard Dreyfuss building the mashed potato mountain in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I probably should remake it, and retake the pictures since I rushed the damn photograhy so I could get to the eating portion. But it was so (double explicative) delicious I would have wound up eating another and the pictures might not be any better….

So here’s the recipe, if you dare. If you’re intrigued but on the fence, try frying the halves and topping with the shrimp, you’ll still have a Close Encounter of the Screaming Good Kind.

1 med or large California Avocado

1/2 lb bay shrimp

1 tbls mayonaise

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup salsa (whatever kind you prefer)

hot sauce to taste

1/2 cup approx flour

1 egg beaten with 3 tbls milk

1/2 cup approx Panko, regular breadcrumbs or fine corn flour.

Chili powder, salt and pepper

Oil for frying

Combine the salsa, hot sauce, mayonnaise and lemon juice in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the shrimp and place in the freezer for 10 -15 minutes, but don’t freeze. Slice the avocado in half and remove the pit. Using the tip of a pairing knife, make a slit in the middle of one the Avocado halves, on the skin side, from end to end. Gently peel the skin off in two pieces. Repeat for the other half. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Remove from the freezer. Season the flour with the salt, pepper and chili powder. Remove the halves and dip in the flour, and then egg, and finally the breadcrumbs. Use a spoon to stuff enough of the shrimp in each half so that the two halves can still be sealed back together, use a toothpick to secure them, and return to the freezer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes repeat the breading process. Heat enough oil in a pan (360degrees) to allow the stuffed avocado to sink and not touch bottom. Fry the Avocado until golden brown turning with a slotted spoon. Remove to a paper towel, and then to a plate and cut in half. Remove the toothpicks and top with more of the shrimp mixture. Eat immediatly!

Enjoy-RTK