Eat Drink Man Woman Dogs Cat We All Eat – Why Not Eat Well?

Recipe: Lemon Shallot Shrimp Salad

Sometimes, nothing beats a salad for dinner; on hot days, in August for instance. Or in January. I love roast chicken, tagines, chili, lasagna and cheese, all the typical comfort foods as much as anyone – more, probably.  But I take comfort in salad, too.

We’re lucky here in the Puget Sound. Greens grow abundantly pretty much all year round. Last week I came home from the farmers market with a huge bag of arugula and bundles of kale and rainbow chard.

I got a cordless immersion blender for Christmas, so I’ve been making salad dressing in excess. Almost every dressing starts with shallots sautéed in olive oil – it’s a lovely taste platform. I am a sucker for croutons, too, toasted in the pan, just after you sauté the shallots.

And how can you go wrong with shrimp? Well, here’s where the salad gets complicated. Learning about sustainable seafood is a necessity for anyone attempting to eat a green diet.  Visit Seafood Watch. Get the app for your phone.  Check out the Marine Stewardship Council. Read Four Fish, and cook from Good Fish and For Cod and Country. Seek out sustainable sushi, and if you have a local grocery store or fish market that makes it easy for you to buy sustainable seafood reward them with your business.  It’s important. Our consumer seafood choices do make a difference.

I know, I know– another thing to research, worry about and feel guilty about. That’s where I was for a long time. But we, as a species, have done so much cumulative, unintentional damage to the Earth that the solutions must be as all-encompassing as the ecosystem we hope to repair. That’s why it’s not enough to just eat organic, or drive a hybrid, or give money to the Sierra Club. All that matters – but we can do more. I certainly can.

The trick is to change your perspective; on a bright sunny winter day, doing the right thing doesn’t feel like a burden. It’s a privilege – one we can honor in a small way with every meal we eat. And many of the choices we make.

So get some pink shrimp or Pacific white shrimp, and give this salad a try.  It’s so worth it.