Carolina Yacht Club Salad {salad with fried green tomatoes, shrimp and corn}

I’ve mentioned my job before on the blog. It’s a pretty good one. Aside from meeting and getting to know some pretty cool people, one of the best perks is that I get to travel to some terrific cities. By far, my favorite has to be Charleston, South Carolina. Although I had been there a couple of times before, it’s a town I didn’t know that well before I started this job a little over three years ago.

As you can imagine, when I’m in Charleston, besides running over the Ravenel Bridge, I look forward to my meals. On my visits over the years, I’ve eaten at FIG, Xiao Bao Biscuit, The Grocery, Hominy Grill, and several other great little places. On my last trip, I had planned to take myself to The Ordinary, which I’d heard great things about, but unfortunately I managed to pick the one day a year that they were closed for a staff retreat. And sadly, my only experience with Husk to date has been at their bar. I don’t drink Bourbon but had a great beer.

When I was there in May, I was treated to lunch at the Carolina Yacht Club. I don’t think that I’d ever been to a yacht club before (other than the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, which is quite different). We had a boat growing up but it was kept in dry storage at the end of dirt road next to a barge that was somehow on bricks in the parking lot as you approached. Needless to say, my lunch at the Carolina Yacht Club was an improvement over the food I ingested (I won’t call these meals) at the marina.

This recipe is an exact replica of the salad I had in Charleston. It’s a ridiculously delicious combination of tart from the lemon vinaigrette and the green tomatoes and sweet from corn and shrimp. It’s a great addition to your summer salad repertoire. Make it for dinner or a fancy ladies lunch if you have those. I don’t.

To make two salads, gather these things:

• 1/2 pound large (12-16 count) shrimp
• Old Bay, Tony Chachere’s or other seasoning blend
• 2-3 ears of white corn
• 2 whole green tomatoes, sliced and fried (using this recipe)
• Lettuce
• Juice of two lemons
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

This isn’t a tough recipe, you just have to do it in stages. I find the best thing to do is to start by prepping, cooking and chilling your shrimp, then moving onto the corn and then frying the tomatoes at the end. Let me be your guide.

If you didn’t buy them already peeled and deveined, go ahead and prep your shrimp. Grab a large stock pot and fill with water. Season with a generous helping of Old Bay or Tony Chachere’s. I think I added some Lawry’s in there too. Bring the water to a boil and toss your shrimp in to cook for about 2-3 minutes or until they’re cute and shrimpy-pink. Pull them out and either chill them or let them hang out at room temp. Your call.

There are also a couple of ways to address the corn. You can either toss the ears into the seasoned water to cook once the shrimp is done or you can grill them. We grilled. When the corn is cooked, cut the kernels off the ears.

Finally, the last things to do are make the vinaigrette and the tomatoes. For the vinaigrette which I like to be fairly acidic, I combined fresh lemon juice and olive oil in a 1:1 ratio and added a bit of salt and pepper. And for the tomatoes, I referenced this great little blog that helped me through the process.

The corn and shrimp can be done in advance and kept in the fridge for a few hours if you want to get that part out of the way. Obviously you can do the same with the vinaigrette. I like the tomatoes to be hot, so I fried them right before we were ready to eat. That’s up to you too.

The final product was great. Lots of terrific textures, colors and flavors. There is such a limited window to find these summer treats so I encourage you to get out and grab them while you can.