Until I was about 27 I had a visceral horror of all thing mayonnaise related. Something about the combination of creaminess, blandness, and viscosity really grossed me out, and it was extreme-- I would send back sandwiches that had even a trace of mayo on the bread, and forget about pasta or potato salad with mayo-based dressing.

Slowly, however, over the past few years, I've begun to appreciate mayo as a flavor vector. I still couldn't stomach just plain mayo on a sandwich, but with the help of garlic aeoli and other complementary sauces, I've realized that a mayo-based sauce, as long as it has a lot of other flavors, can be really delicious.

Due to a variety of work and personal factors I've been an extra-lazy cook lately, and Otis has been picking up the slack, but this Tuesday I decided to make up for it by making a quintessential summer supper: shrimp salad for the main course, and blueberry crumble for dessert.

Against all weather-man odds, it turned out to be a gorgeous summer day, so my hour in the kitchen with a hot oven wasn't ideal. But the supper turned out to be absolutely delicious.

I adapted the shrimp salad recipe from Cook's Illustrated.

Shrimp Salad

1. Boil 1 lb shrimp in 2 cups of water with the juice of three lemons, the lemon rinds, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon each black peppercorns and salt. (About 5-10 mins, depending on the size of the shrimp.)
2. When the shrimp are done (pink and opaque) remove them to an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Remove and dry.
3. Drain and reserve the shrimp stock, and place in the freezer, never to be seen again. (That's what I did. Hopefully I'll actually remember it's there and do something with it.)
4. Whisk together 1/4 cup mayo, the juice of 1 lemon, 3 tablespoons minces chives (I used chives from our container garden! whoopee!), and 2 tablespoons chipotle mustard. Season to taste.
5. Cut shrimp into appetizing bite-sized pieces and mix into the dressing.
6. Serve over watercress dressed with a quick squeeze of lemon juice.

That's it! Although if you're hungry, I might double the recipe...Otis ate about 3/4 lb of the shrimp. I think he spent all day working outside on a deck or something, so he deserved it. (He also ate 2 sourdough dinner rolls.)

For the blueberry crumble, I also adapt a Cook's Illustrated recipe. It's really easy:

1. Macerate the blueberries with sugar and lemon zest for about 1/2 an hour.
2. Process together flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and sliced almonds. Bake on a parchment-covered cookie sheet until light brown.
3. Mix 1 T of cornstarch in with the berries (mix with a little water 1st to avoid clumping)
4. Put the blueberries in a square pyrex, and cover with the crumble, crumbled.
5. Bake for about 1/2 hour.

Serve warm, with a dollop of whipped cream if you have it. Or, do like the Brits and just pour some cream or half-and-half over it. Best thing to come out of English cuisine since the fish finger.