Sparks from the Kitchen

Recently a friend of mine had a very tasty appetizer at a party.  She wanted to recreate it using the Shrimp Salad from these. So we got together and tried a few different types of bacon (regular, turkey and thin and crispy turkey). The regular bacon worked best-the flavor was just right. The turkey and T&C just didn’t taste right. So after some experimenting-mixing the lettuce into the salad, different amounts of salad, different sizes of the piece of bacon underneath etc…-we finally arrived at a perfect little bite of BLT with shrimp salad. They’re just the right size to pick up with 2 fingers and eat in one bite.

Shrimp Salad BLT Bites

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
• 1/4 cup cornichons, chopped small, plus 1 Tbsp brine
• Black pepper
• 1/2 lb cooked, peeled and deveined large shrimp cut into very small pieces
• 1&1/2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
• 10 pieces bacon
• a few leaves of green leaf lettuce (or any other lettuce that will lay flat)
• 3 egg tomatoes (or any other that has the same circumference as the piece of bacon, each sliced very thin into 10 slices)

Instructions:

1. Prepare bacon so that it’s crispy.  Set aside to cool.
2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, brine and season with pepper.
3. Add the shrimp, cornichons and tarragon and toss to combine.
4. Break pieces of bacon into 3 equal sized pieces.  On each place a slice of tomato, a small piece of lettuce (similar size to bacon and tomato) and top with a little less than 1 tbsp of shrimp salad. It helps to compact the salad into a tbsp before placing on top of the bacon.