Chopped Salad with Shrimp and Lime-Buttermilk Dressing

I'm a big fan of main dish salads. Serve this with a crusty bread, and it's my kind of dinner.

This recipe is from Everyday Food Magazine (November 2010). You can print it here.

Chopped Salad with Shrimp and Lime-Buttermilk Dressing

3/4 cup buttermilk
1 avocado, halved, pitted, and peeled
1 teaspoon lime zest plus 1/4 cup lime juice (from 2 limes)
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 hearts romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

In a blender, combine buttermilk, avocado, lime zest and juice, and 2 tablespoons water. Blend until smooth, 20 seconds. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Cook until opaque throughout, about 3 minutes, flipping once. In a large bowl, toss together romaine, pepitas, cilantro, shrimp, and 1 cup dressing until combined and serve immediately.

Julie's notes:  I must confess that after all these years I have just recently started cooking shrimp at home. I purchased frozen, raw, tail-on shrimp at Costco and was very happy to find printed right on the package that 31-40 shrimp equal one pound.

In addition to seasoning the shrimp with salt and pepper I used Old Bay Seasoning.