A lime avocado cream, shrimp in cocktail sauce and pink grapefruit segments: fresh, colourful, and put together in half an hour.
The avocado shrimp verrine is the old-school Christmas shrimp cocktail, made fresher: a zesty green layer, shrimp coated in a pink sauce, and grapefruit to wake it all up with its gentle bitterness. It arrives with the bubbles and sharpens the appetite without spoiling it.
The secret is draining and timing. Well-dried segments and shrimp keep the layers clean, and assembling no more than two hours before serving keeps the avocado bright green.
Good to know · Shrimp and mayonnaise: keep the verrines in the fridge until serving and don't leave them on the table for more than 2 hours. Peeled shrimp sold cooked are not advised during pregnancy (listeria risk). Crustaceans and egg (mayonnaise) are major allergens.
Cut both ends off the grapefruit and stand it up. Remove the peel and all the white pith with the knife, following the curve of the fruit from top to bottom. Over a bowl, slide the blade along each side of the membranes to free the segments. Squeeze the membranes to collect the juice. Cut each segment into three and leave them to drain in the colander.
Remove any tails and halve the largest shrimp through their thickness. Set aside 6 nice whole shrimp for garnish. Pat everything dry with paper towels.
Mix the mayonnaise, ketchup, 1 tsp of the grapefruit juice, a few drops of Tabasco and a grind of pepper. Coat the shrimp in the sauce (not the garnish ones) and keep them in the fridge.
Mince the shallot very finely. Open the avocados, remove the stones and scoop out the flesh. Mash it with a fork (or blend for a very smooth cream) with the lime juice, shallot, salt and pepper. Taste: it should be well seasoned, as the cold dulls flavours.
Spoon or pipe the avocado cream into the bottom of the glasses, about 2 cm deep. Wipe the inside edges with paper towel for clean layers. Add the shrimp in sauce, then the grapefruit pieces.
Top each glass with a whole shrimp, sprinkle with snipped chives and a pinch of pepper. Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and no more than 2 hours. Serve straight from the fridge.
Check off every step to celebrate.
The avocado cream can't be made the day before: it turns brown. In the morning, though, you can cut the segments, make the sauce and prepare the shrimp, each in its own box in the fridge; all that's left is to make the cream and assemble. Assembled verrines wait no more than 2 hours in the fridge. Eat leftovers by the next day at the latest. Not suitable for freezing.
Plenty of lime in the cream, cling film pressed onto the surface if you make it a little ahead, and assembling no more than 2 hours before serving. Beyond that, the surface browns even in the fridge.
Yes, frozen cooked peeled shrimp: thaw them overnight in the fridge, drain well and pat them carefully dry with paper towels before coating them in sauce.
Not entirely: the avocado would brown. Prepare the grapefruit, sauce and shrimp the day before or in the morning, then make the avocado cream and assemble within the 2 hours before serving.
Glasses of 150 to 200 ml for this recipe. For mini verrines of 60 to 80 ml, the same quantity fills about a dozen.
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