Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Rhode Island Sauce

This gorgeous Shrimp and Avocado Salad recipe was created by the talented Scandanavian caterer, food stylist and chef, Malin Köllerström. Born and raised in Gothenburg, Malin left Sweden for France in 1999, and has since worked in Paris, studied at the University of Nice, spent some time employed as a chef aboard enormous private yachts and created her own company, Scandinavian Catering and her own food blog — La Bonne Chère. Among the many elegant events she has catered, which feature the freshest and most fabulous flavours of Mediterranean and Scandinavian cuisine, few stand out more than her sumptuous Shrimp & Avocado Salad garnished with tangy Rhode Island Sauce. As she explains, "I got a request from some Norwegian clients for their dinner party to make a Shrimp Cocktail for a starter. This isn’t something I would normally have on my catering menus, so instead of doing the classic version that is always served in the same old boring cocktail glass, I decided to make mine like a two layered tartar — one layer with avocado and the other with the shrimp" — smaklig måltid — bon appetit!

Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Rhode Island Sauce
Serves 4
Recipe and photo courtesy Chef Malin Köllerström

1 lb fresh prawns, peeled
2 avocados, diced

Rhode Island Sauce:
4 tbsp mayonnaise
4 tbsp crème fraîche
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp of Asian chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp cognac
2 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped, plus some whole for garnish
1 red pepper, finely diced for garnish
salt and pepper


Combine all of the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and mix well. Pour the sauce into 4 small shot glasses, garnish with diced red pepper and set aside. Leave the remaining sauce in the bowl. Chop most of the prawns into a quite chunky dice, but put aside 12-16 whole prawns for decoration. Place the chopped prawns in the bowl with remaining sauce and add the chopped chives. Meanwhile dice the avocado, season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside. To serve, place a small circular or rectangular form on the plate and fill half of it with diced avocado, then the other half with the prawn and Rhode Island sauce mixture. Lift off the form and finish with a layer of whole prawns and garnish with chives. Serve with the little shot glasses of Rhode Island Sauce that guests can drizzle over their salad as they wish.