It’s summertime! Need a too hot to turn on the oven idea? We have the perfect bite for you!

Oregon summers come a little later than other parts of the country. But once it arrives, it’s a gorgeous few months soaking up all the sun I can. The only possible drawback to an annual Vitamin D infusion is that warm temps don’t inspire me to turn on the oven. So I decided to find a way to combine some of my favorite warm-weather foods – avocado, seafood and cheddar of course!

The result of a rather tasty experimentation session is a delicious bite.

I knew I wanted to start with our Smokey Aged Cheddar. Smokey is one of the best examples of our commitment to take extra time to produce more flavorful cheese. For our Smokey Cheddar, we cold-smoke individual small cut blocks of cheddar for hours in small batches with real Applewood smoke. It takes a bit longer but the result is always well worth it!

For a base I went with one of my favorites, Effie’s Homemade Corncakes. Effie’s is perfect for appetizers and bites. The biscuits are sturdy, so they can hold a good amount, but they aren’t too hard. Every kind we’ve tried has balanced flavor and good texture. Her Corncake flavor is a crunchy corn-based biscuit that has just a touch of anise. I thought this one would be the perfect start for a more savory cheese stack.

Chilled seafood was next on my list. Smoked salmon is always good, but a little too much smoke was going on for what I wanted. Shrimp was next on my list. I am generally happy to use pre-cooked shrimp for convenience, but it’s sometimes lacking in flavor. So I decided to get some beautiful wild raw shrimp I found at my local  and do a light poaching bath with pickling spice.

Sliced avocado was a given, I add it to as many dishes I can in the summer months!

I finished off this bite with a sprinkle of Furikake seasoning and Sriracha sauce. These two final touches really rounded out the savory bright flavor combo I was going for. Love it when a new bite comes together! Some other finishing touches I think would work great here are: flakey sea salt and balsamic glaze, oregano and lemon, pesto, or cocktail sauce and chopped rosemary.

For detailed instructions, check out the Smokey Cheddar Shrimp Stack recipe page.

Let us know how you build up your Smokey Shrimp Stack! We love seeing how you use Face Rock Creamery cheeses.