Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad Flutes
I always love to create new and exciting appetizers that have a wow factor. If you start an evening off right, the tone is set for the entire night.
I knew I was starting my wine pairing party with bubbles. So many goods go well with sparkling wine — the bubbles help to cut the sweetness and fat. I wanted to serve a salad and so I came up with this great Caesar salad served in a champagne flute — not your old boring Caesar. The creamy dressing and bite from the anchovies worked great. So, everyone got a flute of bubbles and a flute of salad — with a nicely grilled large shrimp, of course. Wow factor — check. And that’s how these Caesar Flutes were created.
Wine Pairing:
I served two different bubbles, first we had the Estate Brut from Domaine Carneros which was lovely with the salad flutes. After we continued with Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Michelle Brut, which is a bit sweeter and delicious.
- 1 large grilled shrimp per flute
- 1 heart of romaine leaf per flute
- 1 cheese stick per flute
- ½ tablespoon- 1 tablespoon dressing per flute
- Large Shrimp
- 2 garlic cloves
- 4 anchovy fillets
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup champagne vinegar, I use citrus champagne vinegar
- 1 box puff pastry, thawed
- 1 egg
- 1 cup parmesan (I like to take shredded parmesan and pulse it in the food processor so it’s ends up with a fine consistency)
- Salt and pepper
- Dried thyme
- 1 lemon, zested
- Amount: 1 shrimp per finished flute.
- Marinade the shrimp in a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and zest of 1 lemon, marinade in fridge for 10 minutes.
- Skewer each shrimp thru the end to the tail so that when grilled the shrimp are straight, and don’t curl.
- Grill until cooked thru and get nice gill marks.
- Set aside to cool.
- In a food processor mince the garlic with the anchovies, add remaining ingredients and pulse until combined. Thru the pour spout slowly pulse in the olive oil.
- Store in a squeeze bottle or something that will make it easy to pour into the flutes.
- Right before serving pour in the champagne vinegar and shake or stir, this will add a pop to the dressing and thin it out for easier pouring.
- Roll out one sheet of the puff pastry just so that it’s a rectangle and the seams have come together. Brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme and zest. Sprinkle ½ cup of parmesan and using rolling pin press it all into the dough. Slice the dough in ½ lengthwise and then each of those halves into 1-inch strips. Twist each strip gently and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes and flip and bake for another few minutes until both sides are golden and puffy. Let cool on rack.
- Pour a small amount of dressing in the bottom of each flute, then stand a leaf or romaine into the flute followed by a grilled shrimp and cheese stick.
