Demystifying the CIA's Avocado and Grilled Shrimp Salad plus a giveaway by Ang Pompano

Ang Pompano: I recently turned in the manuscript for the next book in my Reluctant Food Columnist Series, Simmering Secrets. I’ll admit, this one took longer than I expected. There were times when the story simmered beautifully and others when it sat there like a pot of water refusing to boil. But I kept stirring until the ingredients finally came together. 

In this installment, food columnist Quincy Lazzaro investigates the death of celebrity chef Connie Langston after she announces plans to relocate the prestigious Langston Culinary Arts Academy from Connecticut to New York. As Quincy digs deeper, he uncovers a web of culinary rivalries, hidden motives, and deadly secrets.

The Langston Culinary Arts Academy in the novel was inspired by the world-famous Culinary Institute of America, which actually began right here in New Haven before moving to Hyde Park. I always thought it was cool that the CIA became legendary in the culinary world while its roots started in my own backyard.

I also had a connection to the CIA through a friend who graduated from the New Haven campus years ago. Hearing stories about the pressure and almost military precision of professional cooking helped shape some of the atmosphere that found its way into Simmering Secrets.

Several years ago, I visited the Hyde Park campus and picked up one of the CIA cookbooks, Chef’s Notes: St. Andrew’s Café. 

After spending months untangling clues, motives, suspicious chefs, illegal dinners, and Quincy’s latest problems, I’m finally happy with how the manuscript turned out. I decided the best way to celebrate was by making a recipe from the book. I picked Avocado and Grilled Shrimp Salad with Citrus Hazelnut Vinaigrette because the dish featured several of my favorite ingredients, including citrus, grilled shrimp, and avocado. 

As I cooked, I found myself thinking about Quincy Lazzaro and the strange world he keeps stumbling into. Having worked in restaurants, I knew the hullabaloo of the kitchen firsthand: giant personalities, bruised egos, and impossible ambition are often behind the perfection that arrives at the table. Those ingredients could easily lead to murder. In real life, thankfully, they never did. It came close a few times, but those stories are better left untold.

Making something delicious felt like the perfect way to mark this milestone, although there are still edits ahead. There are always edits ahead. But for one evening at least, I traded fictional murder for grilled shrimp and a really good vinaigrette. 

Note: Before I share the recipe, a quick confession: the CIA's original version felt a little intimidating for a weeknight, so I took a few shortcuts based on what was on hand. Hazelnuts weren't available this time of year, so I substituted toasted walnuts. I also skipped the hazelnut oil. When I can find it, it's usually expensive. I used olive oil instead. If I'd had more time, I might have infused the oil with the toasted walnuts, but dinner was calling. Also, I used bottled orange juice, which reduced beautifully. 

Part of my job as a mystery writer is demystifying things, and I decided to do the same with this salad. I'm sharing the original recipe because you deserve to have it exactly as written. Still, you may decide, as I did, to adapt it to what you have on hand.

Either way, the dressing was delicious. My version was a big hit at home, and when hazelnuts return in the fall, I plan to make it again and see how the original ingredients change the dish.

Stay tuned for more news about Simmering Secrets and future adventures in the Reluctant Food Columnist Series from Level Best Books.

What about you? Do you change recipes to suit your tastes or what you have on hand, or do you follow every step to the letter? Leave your answer below with your email address, and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a copy of Diet of Death.

AVOCADO AND GRILLED SHRIMP SALAD WITH CITRUS HAZELNUT VINAIGRETTE from the Culinary Institute of America 

Serves 4

Vinaigrette Ingredients

• 2 cups reduced to ½ cup orange juice, 
• 1 tablespoon Gulden's mustard
• 2 ounces champagne vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ cup hazelnut oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch black pepper

Salad Ingredients

• 12 each pink grapefruit (segments)
• ¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
• 2 each avocados, ripe
• 12 each shrimp, grilled
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 2 cups arugula
• ½ cup sprouts, mikro greens
• ¼ cup cilantro leaves, whole

Grilled Shrimp Ingredients

• 12 each shrimp
• ½ ounce lemon infused olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 4 each small bamboo skewers

Method for Vinaigrette

Place the reduced orange juice, mustard, honey and vinegar into a bowl and whisk in the hazelnut oil.

Season with salt and pepper.

Method to Assemble Salad

1. Slice avocado and fan onto outside of plate.
2. Toss the spinach, arugula, mikro greens, and cilantro in a mixing bowl with vinaigrette and place in the center of the plate.
3. Place 3-4 of the trimmed grapefruit segments on the greens and top with warm grilled shrimp. Garnish with some toasted hazelnuts.

Method to Grill Shrimp

Marinate shrimp in olive oil, chopped parsley, cilantro, and salt, pepper.

Place shrimp onto skewers and grill as needed.

Wine Suggestion (also from the CIA)

"Naia, Bodegas Aldail, Rueda Spain

The citrus in the wine would complement the citrus in the salad and the dressing, while the acidity found in the wine would help offset the creaminess of the hazelnuts and the avocados; enough fruit tones in the wine to complement the sweetness in the shrimp."

Ang Pompano is a mystery author, editor, publisher, and blogger. He writes the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency, and the Reluctant Food Columnist series, both published by Level Best Books. In addition to his writing, Ang is a co-founder of Crime Spell Books and serves as co-editor of the Best New England Crime Stories anthology. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and their two rescue dogs.

Diet of Death

by Ang Pompano

The first in the Reluctant Food Columnist Series

Betty Ann Green is a beloved culinary icon…who doesn’t exist. She is the brilliant, beautiful illusion created by two unlikely collaborators. Behind the façade is Quincy Lazzaro, a culinarily challenged writer whose witty, sharp prose is the public face of Betty, while those flawless, genius recipes are all thanks to his octogenarian neighbor, Mary Ticarelli.

When the arrogant diet guru, Dr. Alan Tolzer, inventor of the Westport Diet, demands a face-to-face interview, Quincy reluctantly steps in as Betty’s frontman, only for Tolzer to drop dead. The police call it natural causes, but Quincy knows better. He sees it as the investigative break he’s been waiting for.

Now, caught between a crime-solving grandma, a no-nonsense detective girlfriend, and a killer who may be one step ahead, Quincy must unravel the mystery before the killer strikes again.

Simmering Secrets

by

Ang Pompano

Book Two in the Reluctant Food Columnist Series

Coming November 2026

When celebrity chef Connie Langston collapses dead during a glittering anniversary gala at the prestigious Langston Culinary Arts Academy, struggling investigative reporter Quincy Lazzaro suspects there’s more on the menu than champagne and truffle risotto.

Unfortunately, Quincy has problems of his own. He’s secretly ghostwriting a wildly successful food column under the fake name Betty Ann Green, dodging anonymous texts from someone threatening to expose him, and trying to save his friends’ beloved South Norwalk luncheonette from ruthless developers. Now, against the warnings of the police and his detective girlfriend, Quincy finds himself pulled into a world of celebrity chefs, hidden rivalries, illegal luxury ingredients, and private dinners where the ultra-wealthy will pay fortunes to consume the forbidden.

With the help of his sharp-tongued elderly neighbor, Mary Ticcarelli, Quincy uncovers a web of simmering secrets stretching from elite culinary circles to dangerous underground supply networks tied to powerful people who will kill to protect their appetites.

As the bodies pile up and the anonymous watcher closes in, Quincy must decide how far he’s willing to go for the truth before his own carefully constructed life boils over.

Perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Carl Hiaasen, and culinary mysteries with bite, Simmering Secrets serves up murder, dark humor, found family, and a generous helping of Connecticut coastal charm. 

When It’s Time for Leaving

by Ang Pompano

The first in the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency Series

Buy Link

Al DeLucia walked away from the police—and his past. But when his long-lost father leaves him a detective agency in Savannah, Al finds himself trapped between family secrets and a murder on the agency’s dock. Partnered with Maxine Brophy, a fierce detective who doesn’t trust him, Al is pulled into a deadly search through Savannah and the Okefenokee Swamp—where the truth about the case, and his father, may cost him everything.

Blood Ties and Deadly Lies

by Ang Pompano

Book Two in the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency Series

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Al DeLucia returns to Sachem Creek expecting a kayak race and a chance to confront his childhood bully, Abe Cromwell. Instead, he finds a dead lawyer, a web of deceit, and Abe claiming they’re brothers by DNA. Reluctantly joined by Maxine Brophy, his formidable partner and girlfriend, Al dives into a murder investigation that exposes land swindles, hidden maps, and buried family secrets. In a town where the past won’t stay buried, Al must face truths that could upend everything.

Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories 2025

Edited by

Christine Bagley, Susan Oleksiw, Ang Pompano, and Leslie Wheeler

BUY LINK

Every year the anthology brings welcome surprises and satisfactions, and this year is no different, featuring stories by 21 of New England’s best crime writers.

Includes “Minnie the Air Raid Warden” by Ang Pompano.