Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

Those of us who live in California have been experiencing an unusually warm and dry winter and although a mild winter is lovely, it actually is a major bummer for us because we are now in a state of drought emergency. 

The warm weather has made it seem down right summer-like around here, so when I was looking up recipes for the bag of cooked shrimp I just purchased, shrimp cocktail sounded delicious. My parents were on their way home from Mexico, which may have been some inspiration in terms of recipe selection besides the weather, but this shrimp cocktail tasted especially lovely on the deck with a Corona this evening!  

I even packaged some shrimp cocktail, chips and a Corona in a bag for a welcome home gift  to give to my parents and their friends when we picked them up from the airport this evening.

Buen apetito!

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

1 pound cooked medium shrimp
1/4 of a red onion, chopped (add more onion if you like- I prefer to go light on the raw onion)
1 English cucumber, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 jalapeno, minced finely
1 1/2 cups freshly chopped tomatoes and all their juice
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup parsley or cilantro (depends on whether you or your family are cilantro lovers!)
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 avocado, cut into chunks

Put chopped onion in bowl with lime juice and let sit while you chop all the other veggies, to soften. Then add cucumber,celery, jalapeno, tomatoes, ketchup, cilantro or parsley, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Chop up most of shrimp and add to mixture and stir together. Gently mix in chopped avocado and place in serving bowls with a whole shrimp on top. Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Recipe inspired by Simply Recipes