The first step in making this salad is to peel and devein the shrimp. You can read about how to do that in the cooking school section here. I do prefer to get shrimp that is still in its shell, rather than peeled and deveined shrimp. I find that you end up with better quality shrimp if you buy them in their shell (how could they not be in better shape having gone through one less step in getting to you). Also, it’s nice to have shrimp shells on hand to make a quick seafood stock to flavor soups and stews (just keep them in your freezer until you’re ready to use them). I do leave the tails on for this salad because they make the shrimp so much more attractive in the finished dish, but you can pull them off if you prefer.

The next skill you have the opportunity to use when making this salad is segmenting citrus fruit. Don’t fret about this! You have 30 minutes while the shrimp is marinating, so you might as well put that 30 minutes to good use. I have another cooking school article and video on how to supreme citrus fruit here. Remember to do this over a bowl so you can catch all the citrus juice. You won’t actually use the juice in the recipe, but it’s delicious poured into a glass and enjoyed!