Ladies Lunch: Shrimp & Avocado Verrines w/ Egg & Smoked Salmon!

When dining in Paris, many appetizers are served as verrines.

Same idea as a terrine, but layered and served in a glass, instead of in a loaf pan and sliced.

Many desserts are served this way, 3 layers.
Think mini trifle!

Chicken liver mousse w/ a fruit compote on top; or maybe a tomato, basil with a layer of mozzarella, triple decker in beautiful glass jars.

It's all about the pretty layers.

I could not find oven safe verrine glasses, like they use in France, so used my Duralex water glasses, as well as my other French drinking glasses.
I didn't need to put these in the oven, so I just figured out what looked nice.

These made a beautiful luncheon presentation. Everyone oohed and aahed.

You can use any combination of seafood you like.  Crab would be nice too.

Here are the components I used for 4 verrines:

2 ripe avocado (I made my basic guacamole minus the cilantro and tomato)
8 cooked shrimp, chopped
1/2 English cucumber, diced small
sea salt
3 hard boiled eggs, mashed
3 slices of smoked salmon, cut to fit the top
2 tbsp of minced red onion and chives for garnish

For the topping, I mixed mayo w/ creme fraiche, a little bit of Dijon mustard and chives. You can use plain Greek yogurt too with some dill! Be creative!

Make an avocado mash with sea salt or your favorite guacamole recipe.
This will be your bottom layer.

Boil eggs for 13 minutes, and the last 3 minutes of cooking, throw in your shrimp. Save a pot to clean!

Chop up the shrimp, throw away the tails.
Layer #2 is your shrimp.

Dice up a cucumber nice and small.
This is layer #3.
Season with sea salt. Important.

Mash up the eggs like you would for egg salad.

Layer, layer, layer, pressing down on each layer to compact.

Then finish with the top of the eggs with orange icing, which are smoked salmon pieces, cut to fit the top of the verrine.

A dollop of white stuff (creme fraiche, mayo or yogurt) on top and some fresh dill, chives and/or red onion.

Can be made a few hours in advance.
Cover verrines with plastic wrap then break out the white wine!

Enjoy!

:)