During our travels this summer, we spent some time in The Netherlands; and one evening, we ate at a lovely restaurant in Lisse, near the beach. If you’ve ever eaten out in The Netherlands, you know that evening is prime time and usually quite expensive. On the up side, the food is generally fresh and delicious.
And as usually happens with me, since I want to try everything that sounds intriguing or new, my eyes are bigger than my stomach… I ended up ordering an avocado appetiser and a full entree. Fortunately, the fish entree was normal Dutch portions, or else I would’ve had to leave it there or exploded. 😉
The appetiser was an avocado stuffed with shrimp and other ingredients, which I cannot recall. What I do know is that it was rather creamy. In Spain, a halved avocado stuffed with shrimp and/or ensaladilla is tapa that is very typical in Granada, where bars give you a free tapa with a paid drink. I can’t recall the last time I had a stuffed avocado, so the appetiser in Lisse tasted sublimely divine!
In recreating this, I thought I would first steam the shrimp and use mayonnaise, to achieve the creaminess…but after messing up a batch of mayonnaise*, I changed my mind.
(*Mayonnaise is not that difficult to make. But my blender broke a couple of months ago, and instead of replacing it, we purchased a food processor that has a blender as well. However, this blender doesn’t work for making mayonnaise. I’ll have to resort to my mini-pimer -immersion blender- from now on. But today, I was too lazy to keep trying.)
Back to the avocado: Sometimes it’s actually good that things don’t work out. If they had, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this delicious combination.
How I came up with the idea? Simple. I love garlic shrimp, and that mixed with the natural creaminess of avocado is, for me, just a perfect match.
You can use this recipe as an appetiser for 2 persons or a meal for one. I had the whole avocado as lunch… talk about ingesting a lot of good, healthy fats! 😉
- 1 whole medium avocado
- about 2 cups medium to large shrimp, raw or uncooked frozen (defrost prior to cooking)
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- olive oil
- coarse sea salt, to taste
- freshly ground pepper, to taste
- fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped
- chili powder, optional
- Half the avocado and take the pit out.
- Scrap out most of the meat, leaving a very thin layer to hold up the shell better. Set aside.
- Chop up the meat into squares and place in a bowl. With your hands, squish the squares a little bit, to crush some but so that most keep their shape. Set aside.
- In a pan, place about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the minced garlic and the shrimp.
- Add a dash of coarse sea salt, and over low heat, cook just until the shrimp turn pink. Do not overcook, or they’ll be dry and hard.
- Pour the shrimp with garlic and olive oil into the bowl with the avocado pieces.
- Add some chopped parsley or cilantro and mix well. (If you want to incorporate some chili powder for extra flavour, do so now before mixing.)
- Spoon the mixture into the avocado shells, sprinkle with some freshly ground pepper, and garnish with additional parsley/cilantro if desired.
- Serve immediately.
- (I added a leftover, hardboiled quail egg as garnish, but it’s not essential to the recipe, of course.)
What kind of egg is in the photo
Melissa, it’s a quail egg. I had one leftover from another recipe and wanted to eat it, so used it as a garnish. 😉
Haha, my first reaction was “where did she get those GIANT avocados?” before I realized that, of course, the eggs were not chicken eggs…
Hi Karen,
Hahaha.. yes, I’ve had a lot of comments regarding the quail eggs! That’s what happens when you try to use up a leftover as a prop that doesn’t really have anything to do with the recipe. 😉 Although I must say, I did eat it and enjoyed it. By the way, my friend from Cuba tells me that the avocados there are humongous, nothing like the little things we get elsewhere. So, maybe you weren’t that far off with your first reaction!
Debra xx
Holy avocado! Your Cuban friend wasn’t lying http://i.imgur.com/C1JxXys.jpg
Haha.. what a difference, huh? The Cuban avocados are like large mangos or even bigger. Hope you enjoyed! Debra xx
Karen,
If you have a “The Fresh Market” store near you they only sell those giant avocados and I promise you they are amazing. I usually buy 6 to 10 at a time and keep them refrigerated until ready to use then I pull out 2 & put them in the window to ripen! Have a wonderful day.
Hi Karen,
Thank you for the tip! I don’t have a Fresh Market near me… ;(
You too, have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by!
Debra xx
That was delicious! I used bacon grease instead of olive oil and omitted the salt. May have over done the garlic (I used 4 cloves of Giant garlic), but fortunately I LOVE garlic.
Unless you like Garlic kisses, this is NOT a date night meal!
Haha.. that’s funny! Glad to hear you liked it! 😉
Um yum! I’m not sure if it gets any better than avocado AND shrimp 🙂 I can’t wait to try this, especially since I just picked up some shrimp. Now if I could only get the avocados to the right point before they go bad…
OK – being new to cooking especially avocado (don’t think I am dumb!)….are you supposed to eat the shells or just the stuffing parts? So glad I found this site!
Happy New Year Dave! Don’t eat the shells, just the meat! 😉 Debra xx
Making this tonight as a side to my baked tilapia!
I think I have died and gone to heaven!!! This is soooo good!!!
These sound so amazing!! Looking forward to enjoying them for supper tmrw. Thank you for sharing!!! 🙂
OK! So I made this last night for a dinner partyand it was a HIT! Everyone loved it, (except of course the person who was allergic to shellfish…my bad)…nevertheless it was awesome. Thanks for such an appetizing, healthy and attractive dish.
First, it’s a pinch of dry ingredients and a dash of liquids.
Two cups of shrimp, and 6-7 garlic cloves, for one avocado seem like an enormous amount, even tho I do love shrimp and garlic; think I might try it with two avocados. Mmmm.
Hmm, I’m sure it would be good either way but did you serve it with the hrimp warm or the whole dish slightly chilled?
Hi Phillip,
I like it both ways, although my preference is warm, just done. Debra xx
I absolutely loved this recipe. It was filling as well. I’m adding this recipe to my weekly menu. Thank you
Looks yummy can’t wait to try it
For a variation on this, I didn’t use the avo skins.
Instead I boiled a free-range hen egg lightly chopped it and mixed through the avo/shrimp mix. It finished it all off with a generous squeeze of lemon juice then served it in crisp iceberg lettuce shells.
lol. this meal is over 1800 calories. if it’s an appetizer, i wouldn’t want to eat anything else for the entire meal!
I want to add tomatoes….
1800 calories? For real?
If you served this for a dinner meal, would you add anything to it and what? My daughter-in-law is a vegetarian but eats Seafood. This looks like a fantastic meal to make for her. — Thanks
Sadi, where in the world are you coming up with 1800 calories?? I come up with 350 max.
Curious do I have to bake it ? How do U cook? In fry pan?
Hi Cash,
Just follow the recipe: in a pan with olive oil for the shrimp; the avocado is raw. Enjoy!
My husband loved it! Just made a minor change by adding some lime juice to the finished product. I will definitely be using this recipe as part of our weekly dinner routine. Thank you for the recipe!
How many calories are in this recipe?
Hi Meredith,
I’m sorry, but I don’t ever count calories and don’t even know how to calculate them. Maybe someone else can help. Debra xx
Hi, this looks fantastic! How do I eat it? With a fork? Pick it up and bite it? I’m sorry if this is obvious but can anyone answer if the original poster doesn’t reply? Thank you!
Hi Courtney,
I eat it with a fork, and scoop any remaining avocado mix with a spoon. Hope that helps you! Debra xx
Stuffed avocado looks grate but is good for lite salt and diabetics.i use slot avocado
I was so excited when I saw this. I just tried it out with a couple minor variations (margarine instead of olive oil, a bit of lemon juice in with the shrimp, and about twice the amount of garlic). It was FANTASTIC. My husband about died of joy. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Thank you!
This was quick, easy and delicious. Could you tell me protein and calories please?
Thank you Creela. But I don’t measure anything for calories nor protein content. I’m sure you could find an online source that can help calculate this though. Glad you liked the recipe! Debra xx
Great looking recipe! However, when I clicked on the print button, 10 pages printed with nary a recipe to be found, a real waste of paper. I hope you will consider a different print plug-in, this one is worthless and aggravating. But, again, the recipe is a keeper!
Thank you Vicki. I’ll look into it. But I believe there’s an option to print the PDF only and select the pages??
Very yummy. Husband said he’d like to put it in a wrap. I was lazy and used the minced garlic from a jar.
I’ll have to try this.
I am unable to print the recipe. It just shows blank pages.
Thank you Denise. I’ll check it out and fix. Debra xx
We make a guacamole from the avocado, using a small amount lime juice,a dash of cayenne pepper,cilantro and salt…then mix the shrimp in. Spoon it all back into the shell and serve it on a bed of lettuce.
Sounds delicious!
We LOVED this!!! I used lobster meat in place of the shrimp but otherwise stuck to the original recipe. My husband is VERY difficult to please at the table but this recipe made the grade.
So happy to hear that Mary! Debra xx
Saw this recipe from a friend on Facebook. With how my wife and I love shrimp and avocados we decided to try it. Had to wait a few days for the avocados to ripen, but it was so worth it. So delicious.
Thank you Robert! I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it. Debra xx
I want to make this as an app so what did you have as your main course or any suggestions?
Hi Grace,
It’s hard to know what to suggest without knowing what you like and how involved you want your main to be. I have recipes for all sorts of dishes, from lamb, to pork, to chicken, to seafood… stews… This is a rich dish though, so maybe something light afterwards, like my “not quite Icelandic fish soup”?
I’d love to hear what you decide upon.
Debra xx
Can I please have the calorie count and nutrition facts for this recipe?
Dear Georgette,
I don’t count calories; and unfortunately I don’t have the nutritional facts for any of my recipes calculated. I do know there are websites that offer this service (for free I mean) and are easily available with a google search. I hope that helps!
Debra xx
will be making this again tonight…love it!
So glad to hear that! xx Debra
557 calories per serving
(Assuming one portion is both halves)
How in the direction of shed my Belly Bodyweight?
This looks really good. Did you use a Haas avocado? They do have more flavor than the other ones. I will be making it with a Haas avocado. They are usually smaller, but they are usually the only ones available here.
Thank you Clara.
I don’t remember what type of avocado I used; and whenever I make this, it varies from location to location on what’s available really. I hope you like it! Debra xx
I can’t wait until tomorrow night, to make this delicious sounding recipe. I think I will use fresh dill, in place of cilantro or parsley. Then, the next time, l will try it with the cilantro (I’m not a big fan). p.s. – what was the point of squishing some of the meat from the avocado? I just couldn’t figure that one out! p.s. Thank you very much for tomorrow night’s yummy sounding (and looking) dinner.
Hi Koko,
Thank you for your comment. I hope you enjoy the dish when you make it! The point of squishing the meat of the avocado is to make it creamier, coat the shrimp better, and have the flavours all meshed together.
Debra xx
Do you have a guesstimate on how many calories are in this dish? I will be making, high in protein n low fat. Thank you
Dear Mimi,
I don’t count calories, so unfortunately I don’t have the information for you. I know there are online apps that can do it though; I just don’t know which ones.
This dish is high in healthy fats (the avocado and EVOO), which also makes it ideal for Ketogenic diets, which help you lose body fat.
I hope that helps!
Debra xx
This was so quick – much quicker than the salad that I made to go with it – and so good. The presentation tickled my husband. Keeper.
Hi Nadine,
Thank you!
I’m happy to hear that.
Debra xx
I am interested in making the avocado stuffed with garlic and shrimp.
I’d Iike to make it ahead of time. Can I serve it cold? Or should I microwave it for 20 seconds to take the chill off of it? Thank you
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for stopping by. The avocado should be room temperature or cold, depending on your preference. What I would do for making ahead is keep the avocado and the shrimp mixture separate until you’re ready to serve. Heat up the shrimp mixture, then mix up with the avocado meat, place all into the avocado shells, and serve. Hope that helps! Debra xx
Thanks for your speedy reply. I am going to make this on Saturday . Looks like. Perfect appetizer to serve while out sailing…..thank you
Been making this for a couple of years now and it’s a summer favorite of mine. I mince a bit of fresh jalapeno into mine. Gives it that tiny bit of crunch and fresh flavor!!
Thank you Pam. I’m so glad you enjoy it! Debra xx
This recipe is missing a lemon, otherwise avocado will turn dark.