Well, well, well. 
Remember that green goddess dressing I made? Welp. I had herbs leftover from it, and Jay had been talking a ton about using the green paste I use for green rice in something besides just rice, which was a STELLAR idea. So, I used his idea and the leftover herbs to make a sort of hybrid - kind of green goddess, kind of cilantro-based, but very sexy mixture. Then I made sandwiches, and ate 10,000 potato chips in the process.
It was a good day.
The ingredients for this are pretty simple! You need spinach, green onions, garlic, cilantro, parsley, lemon, olive oil, mayo, shrimp, lettuce, sundried tomato pesto, and bread. Done! As a note, this shrimp would of course be delicious just on its own! The sundried tomato pesto is optional, but you'd be silly so skip it. I get mine from Aldi for super cheap and love keeping it in the fridge for stuff like this. Promise: worth it. 
First, we'll prep the sauce and the lettuce, which just needs to be shredded. For the green goop, gather up your herbs and zest the lemon over a small food processor. 
Add the scallions to the herbs, lemon zest, garlic, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Blend the mixture together to form a thick paste - taste it and add more salt if you'd like. Then, cut the lemon into wedges for serving later. 
Take a big spoonful of the green mixture and add it to the shrimp. 
Then, toss that all together and let it sit for a few more minutes. 
Add the rest of the green mixture to a big spoonful of mayo (about equal amounts, but adjust it to your liking). 
Then, stir! You just made fancy aioli. Taste THAT, and add another pinch of salt if you'd like. 
Now, we just need to cook the shrimp and assemble our sandwiches! Preheat a skillet to medium-high heat with a drizzle of oil, and the broiler to high. Broil the bread until it's toasty, then spread the tops with the green mixture and the bottoms with the sundried tomato pesto. 
I take it back. You need the pesto. 
When the skillet is super hot, add the shrimp. 
Cook the shrimp for about 3 minutes on each side until they're just cooked through - the herbs will blacken in bits but that's ok! It tastes great. 
Assemble the sandwiches with a layer of shrimp...
...a layer of lettuce...
...and a hat! 
And maybe a lemon wedge. 
You are going to be fully obsessed with this sandwich. It's like a non-fried super flavorful po-boy, but close enough that chips and beer are the only sides you need. 
Promise. Try this soon!
Herb-Crusted Shrimp Sandwich
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cilantro
- ¼ cup parsley
- 2 green onions
- ¼ cup spinach leaves
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 lemon zested and then cut into wedges
- ¼ cup olive oil
- salt to taste
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 8 large shrimp peeled, deveined, tails off
- iceberg lettuce shredded
- 2 tablespoons sundried tomato pesto
- sandwich bread your favorite kind
Instructions
- Combine the herbs, spinach, scallions, garlic, lemon zest, and olive oil in a blender or food processor until very smooth and a thick paste forms. Taste, and add a bit of salt to your preference.
- Toss the shrimp with 2 tablespoons of the green mixture, and set aside.
- Combine the rest of the green mixture with the mayonnaise. Taste, and add more salt if needed.
- Preheat a skillet to medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. When very hot, add the shrimp and cook until just cooked through, 3 minutes or so on each side.
- While the shrimp is cooking, broil or toast the bread.
- To assemble, for each sandwich, spread pesto on one piece of bread and the mayo mixture on the other. Sandwich the bread with the shrimp, lettuce, and a squirt of lemon juice.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Don't toss the stems of your herbs - use them in the puree! They taste great and you'll never know they're there.
This dish looks very delicious and fancy.
It's not fancy at all! Totally low key but DELICIOUS. Try it!