Colorful Cold Entree

Pulling together all the elements to make this month's #LetsLunch theme Cold Entree was so much fun! I love creating from existing ingredients as well as using fresh and new ingredients.

I already had grilled hoisin pork shoulder and cooked cold whole wheat linguine so those were the basis of my dish. All I needed was to build on top...some spicy shrimp to contrast the sweet hoisin pork. Then layering bright colored stir fried vegetables in an interesting pattern. I slathered Annie's shitake sesame dressing over the linguine which was exactly the flavor I was looking for.

A very typical topping in Malaysia and Singapore are crispy shallots but I only had red onion. They would not crisp up even though I fried it exactly how I would have done with the shallots. However, they did caramelize nicely and gave a wonderful sweetness to round out this wonderful Cold Entree.

I can't wait to see what my other #LetsLunch buddies made, always so creative and the best is hearing the stories behind the dish! I'll be adding their links below, so please come back and visit.

I just got my copy of Cheryl Tan's A Tiger in the Kitchen, a Memoir of Food and Family but I've not had a chance to read it yet. I got sucked into her story after reading the prolog on Amazon and just knew I had to have it! I'm a newbie on Amazon but quickly found that if you order over $25, you get free shipping. Cheryl spearheads #LetsLunch and organizes us all with our posts. I'm not sure how she does this as well as her book tour! Visit her wonderful blog, also named A Tiger in the Kitchen, to find out how to join #LetsLunch, I've met the neatest food bloggers.

Colorful vegetables ready for the stir fry.

Stir fried veggies with tea seed oil, then added dash of tamari and sherry

Marinaded shrimp with TSPC
(tamari, sherry, white pepper and cornstarch)
with a little chili garlic sauce.

Assembling the ingredients.

Cathy‘s Jasmine Tea-Poached Shrimp Summer Rolls at Showfood Chef

Cheryl's Spicy Sichuan Sesame Noodles at A Tiger in the Kitchen

Linda‘s Gazpacho Rolls Gone Wrong at Free Range Cookies

Lisa‘s Byron Sprout Salad with Chargrilled Chicken at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Mai‘s Strawberry Soup at Cooking in The Fruit Bowl

Maria‘s Croque Monsieur with Bechamel at Maria’s Good Things

Rebecca‘s Cold Roasted Lamb with Mustard & Rosemary at Grongar Blog

Victor‘s Seafood Napoleon at The Taste of Oregon