This Mexican Shrimp Cocktail Will Help You Beat That Summer Heat

Ahh, summer! With this time of year comes vacations, time with the family, annual events, sun tans, beach trips, and of course, the heat! However, don’t worry, we’ve got a few recipes to help beat down those pesky heatwaves! Such as a thirst quenching horchata which is a Mexican refreshing drink, or like this recipe of an ice cold Mexican shrimp cocktail!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 ½ pounds of deveined and peeled cooked shrimp
• 1-2 cloves of garlic finely minced and crushed
• 1 large purple onion finely chopped
• 1 medium – large ripe tomato chopped
• ¼ cup of fresh cilantro chopped
• 1 ½ cups of picante clamato tomato cocktail juice
•  ¼ cup of your favorite ketchup 
• ⅓ cup of fresh squeezed lime juice
• 2 teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce (if you like it more spicer, you can add to taste)
• 2-3 fresh serrano peppers chopped (you can sub in habanero for more heat!)
• 1 avocado pitted and the flesh chopped
• ½ teaspoon of salt or to taste
• ½ teaspoon of pepper or to taste

OPTIONAL:

• Accent seasoning to taste
• One small cucumber chopped or about 1 cup

DIRECTIONS:

1. First, if you’ve got raw shrimp, go ahead and cook, devein, and peel it. Once done, set to the side.
2. Chop all of your veggies that need to be chopped, keeping them separate for now.
3. Now, simply place the cooked shrimp in a large bowl followed by the onion, cilantro, garlic, tomato, serrano peppers, and cucumber if you opted to use it. 
4. In a separate bowl, mix together your lime juice, hot sauce, ketchup, and picante clamato tomato cocktail juice, and the seasonings. Once incorporated well, pour over the top of your larger bowl with the dry ingredients.
5. Add in your avocado, and gently fold everything into itself until everything is mixed well.
6. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.
7. When it’s completely chilled, transfer into a large bowl with a ladle for everyone to help themselves or serve into a cocktail glass of your choice.

SIDE NOTE:

You can garnish the side of the glass with a slice of lime, lemon, or orange, or you can even use a whole cooked shrimp sticking out over the glass. I’m sure this goes without saying, but make sure this Mexican shrimp cocktail is served, and eaten while cold, and only cold. If you’re wondering what you can eat with this if it’s your main dish, you can have some good crackers with it, or perhaps some grilled clams and oysters. As for the drink, well I referenced a thirst quenching drink earlier called horchata. You can find that recipe here. If you think this recipe will be too spicy for you, you can lower the amount of serrano peppers and or change them out for jalapeno peppers. You can also place the glasses in the freezer prior to serving so that everything is a little extra chill! Lastly, refrigerate for a minimum of three hours, but the longer it sits in the refrigerator, the better, because those flavors will only continue to mingle.