Persimmons are a native fruit here in the United States typically only available in the Fall. They are a deep orange in color when ripe. The texture is similar to a tomato with the same kind of thin skin, but unlike tomatoes that are a bush plant, persimmons grow on trees. They freeze very well for future use. I used two of the persimmons I received in my Farm Bag last Fall, that I pureed and froze when they were ripe. I wanted to make a Summer “pasta” salad with succulent Atlantic shrimp and all the freshness of Summer vegetables in a sweet and savory, creamy dressing. Since my mother was diagnosed as being severely allergic to wheat, my pasta choice for this salad is zucchini noodles!
My persimmon vinaigrette needs time to marry the flavors so it is the first step in this recipe. You can make it with fresh or as in my case two frozen ripe, pureed persimmons that have been thawed. The thawed persimmons go into a Nutribullet cup along with garlic cloves, fresh apple juice with pulp, honey, white balsamic vinegar, avocado oil and salt and pepper. Blend it all up until it is creamy and smooth. Refrigerate it until it is needed. The longer it is chilled the better the flavors will blend. Try to allow at least an hour for it to marry.
Spiral slice the zucchini, I used a Spirooli, but a vegetable peeler will do. Use kitchen scissors to trim the zoodles to a reasonable length if you are using a spiral slicer. Chop your grape tomatoes in half on top of the trimmed zucchini noodles. Melt grass fed butter in a large saute pan and add a couple of teaspoons (cap fulls) of lemon juice and saute the shrimp and fresh corn until the shrimp is fully cooked. Pour the shrimp and corn over the zoodles and tomatoes.
Now it is time to dress the salad. Pour the dressing over the top and use tongs to toss all of the ingredients together to thoroughly coat the entire salad in the dressing. Serve immediately and thank me later!
- Persimmon Vinaigrette:
2 Persimmons
2 cloves Garlic
4 T Avocado Oil
2 T White Balsamic Vinegar
2 T fresh Apple juice with pulp
1 ½ T Honey
½ tsp Pink Salt
¼ tsp Black Pepper - 2 Large Zucchini, spiralized
- 12-15 Grape Tomatoes, halved
- 1 C fresh Sweet Corn
- 1 lb. Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 capfuls Lemon Juice
- 1 T Butter
- Process all of the vinaigrette ingredients until smooth and refrigerate for at least an hour before using, the longer the better the flavors will blend.
- Spiralize the zucchini and trim it to reasonable lengths and slice the tomatoes on top of it.
- Melt the butter in a large saute pan and stir in lemon juice.
- Saute shrimp and corn together until the shrimp is done.
- Pour the shrimp and corn over the salad.
- Pour all of the dressing on top and use tongs to thoroughly toss the salad and dressing together.
- Serve immediately. Serves 4.
Enjoy!