I’m counting 1-10: Seafood Cocktail Louisiana as the fourth dish I made of this year’s 7-recipe Thanksgiving cooking marathon (TGV 2016) , but its components actually spanned a few days (and a few cooks). This was one of three appetizers I made for my Thanksgiving dinner–the others being a crudité & hummus platter and 1-5: Pigs in a Blanket.
My mom was always big on the idea of “shrimp cocktail” as being necessary for Thanksgiving dinner appetizers (it was always part of her family’s holiday dinner when she was growing up), so in order to honor that idea, I chose this recipe.
As I mentioned above, I’m counting this as the fourth dish I made–it spanned Wed. 11/23 and Thu. 11/24 as different components had varying levels of make-in-advance-ability. My sous chef made the dressing and prepped shrimp the first night, while I assembled the dish itself right before serving the next day.
The easiest part of this to make in advance is the dressing as well as prepping the shrimp, so those tasks got done the night before, on Wednesday.
Other dishes I made on Wed. 11/23: 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe, cranberry sauce, 16-52: Apple Nut Saucepan Torte, and a roasted garlic & herb butter to serve with 17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls.
Dressing ingredients–chili garlic sauce is probably not the same chili sauce they were referring to in their recipe, because it came out a bit too spicy. If I did it again, I’d use a mix of ketchup and horseradish sauce (more reminiscent of traditional cocktail sauce).
Yeah–too spicy.
A bit larger than I would have done it (this was done by my sous chef/husband), but beggars can’t be choosers, and I was busy making other things.
All mixed up.
Plastic wrapped and refrigerated until the big day. ❄
Jump ahead to about 3 PM, Thanksgiving day. Ingredients for dressing reassembled (for posterity), along with the prepped shrimp and pre-shredded iceberg lettuce.
He left me a few shrimps whole upon request, and since I was plating this buffet-style rather than as a sit-down meal, I needed to reconfigure the serving suggestions. Instead of individual salads, I thought to plate it as a build-it-yourself cocktail, with iceberg lettuce, a mixed shrimp/crab seafood salad (sans mayonnaise, but with the addition of some dill and Old Bay seasoning), the dressing and some lemon wedges.
Saved those few whole shrimps to garnish my mixed seafood salad. I splurged and got the real crab, not the “krab”.
Instead of a close-up or single plate, I’ve got a picture of my appetizer spread from Thanksgiving as a final shot. You can see my plating in the middle, if you want an idea of how to convert it to a party-style platter instead of individual servings. To the left you can see 1-5: Pigs in a Blanket & its accompanying mustard sauce, and to the right you can see my crudité/hummus platters.
Overall it wasn’t bad, but I think I’d just serve a traditional seafood cocktail platter the next time.
Grade: B+
Interested in the full list of Simply Delicious dishes I made for 2016’s Thanksgiving feast?
- 4-27: Mushroom-Parsnip Au Gratin
- 16-52: Apple Nut Saucepan Torte
- 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe
- 1-10: Seafood Cocktail Louisiana
- 17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls
- 1-5: Pigs in a Blanket
- 6-29: Stuffed Turkey (includes gravy & stuffing)
