Mandarin Orange & Lemon Ginger Shrimp Chopped Salad
Who doesn’t love a fresh, crisp Asian salad? Our Asian Chopped Salad Kit blends fresh Savoy and green cabbage, carrots, celery, green onion, crispy wontons, and toasted almonds to deliver a delicious blend of crunchy textures. When drizzled with its light sesame dressing, this salad kit is already the perfect balance of sweet, savory, and zesty. (They know a thing or two about balance in Eastern Philosophy.) But imagine adding sultry sweet mandarin oranges to the mix, to be balanced by toasted black sesame seeds and the protein-packed comfort of shelled edamame beans. And when topped with not just shrimp but lemon ginger shrimp, do we need to say more? Well, what we will say is this salad is flavor-filled, filling, and looks fantastic. Enjoy.
- Active Time:
- 20 min
- Total TIME:
- 30-60 min
- SERVINGS:
- 4
- CREATED BY:
- The College Housewife
Ingredients
For Salad:
- 1 cup of canned (in water) mandarin oranges
- 1 Tablespoon of black sesame seeds
- 1 cup of shelled edamame beans
- 1 Taylor Farms Asian Chopped Salad Kit
For Marinated Shrimp:
- 1 lb. of shrimp, deveined and peeled
- 1/3 Cup of olive oil
- 4 Garlic cloves, minced
- 1 thumb of ginger, grated
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
- Juice from one lemon
Directions
- Prepare the marinade: In a medium bowl whisk together olive oil, garlic cloves, ginger, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
- Marinate & skewer the shrimp: Toss shrimp with marinade and refrigerate for 30-60 mins. Skewer shrimp onto wooden or metal skewers.
- Cook the shrimp: Grill on a gas or greased grill pan (we used a cast iron grill pan) for 2 minutes on each side or until shrimp is pink and opaque.
- Plate the salad: Arrange Taylor Farms Asian Chopped Salad Kit on a large platter and top with mandarin oranges, black sesame seeds, edamame beans, and shrimp skewers.
Marvelous Mandarins Made for Salads
We all know and love canned mandarin oranges as a convenient and delicious treat—but how that sweet citrus made its way into cans and onto our tables is quite the journey. We don’t have to speak Mandarin to understand that these oranges are originally Chinese. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that they made it to the United States, particularly in New Orleans, which was a major port for agriculture trade at the time. Their cultivation then soon spread to other citrus-growing states like Florida and California.
Around the same time, people and companies were canning perishable foods in order to preserve them for longer periods of time. Canned mandarin oranges likely hit the scene in the early 20th century, right when mandarin groves were thriving in the U.S. and the processed food industry was taking off.
Whatever the trade route, today they are commonly used in salads, desserts, and as an easy sweet snack. We add them to many of our Asian-inspired recipes, like the Citrus Crunch Ramen Salad, the Mandarin & Sunflower Chopped Pasta Salad, and the Fresh and Fruity Spring Mix Salad with Grilled Chicken Thighs. Anytime you want a burst of sweetness to a salad, mandarin oranges are the culinary equivalent of the rising sun in the east.
