Seafood

On Saturday, we had a small impromptu dinner party with some close friends.  Katie, Javi, Crissie, Nick, Cortnay, Idoia, Michelle and Reagan all agreed to come for a night of fun and A LOT of red wine drinking.  By the end of the night everyone had purple teeth and a full stomach.

Here is Michelle and Cortnay.  They are pretty.

This is me pretending to look like I know what I am doing.  But accidently serving the whole group ridiculously raw meat.  More on that later.

 Here is Javi, never too far away from a computer. Lots of wine on the table.

Javi and I went to Costco earlier that day and spotted some amazing U-15 Mexican Shrimp at a great price.  I imagine most people know this, but U-15 is the amount of shrimp per pound or in this case “under 15 or less”.  

We also spotted some ridiculously good looking Fletcher’s thick cut bacon.  I always make my specialty garlic grilled shrimp, but thought I would try some bacon-wrapped shrimpies too.  The garlic shrimp is cooked with the shell on because it adds more flavor and keeps the meat moist.  But it would be a pain in arse to peel a shrimp wrapped in bacon, so I peeled and deveined half of them first. Here is a little cheesey demonstration on how to peel and devein shrimp. Not sure if this is the RIGHT way to do it, but it works well for me: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHW7qvAu2k

BTW, I never mind the veins and don’t understand why people get grossed out by them.

Both of these shrimp recipes turned out spectacularly!! We also had some Flank Steak and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, but those recipes are coming in later posts.

Lots of Garlic in these shrimpies!

Grilled Peel ‘n Eat Garlic Shrimp

1 Pound raw large shrimp shell-on head-off

5 Garlic cloves chopped

1/2 Cup olive oil

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Rinse shrimp off with cold water and drain well. 

 In small bowl pour sea salt over garlic and rub with a fork to make a paste. 

Whisk in olive oil. 

Reserve 1/4 of olive oil mixture for the bacon-wrapped shrimp and pour the rest over the shell-on shrimp in a ziplock bag.  Marinate in fridge 12-24 hours.  Remove from bag and place 4-5 shrimp each on wooden skewers that have been soaked in water. 

 Grill on medium until opaque.  Don’t overcook. I mean it.  Peel ‘n eat.  Don’t make this on a first date – it gets messy.

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

1 Pound large shrimp peeled with tail-on

Olive Oil and garlic mixture left from above recipe

1 Teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Teaspoon Cajun seasoning

8-9 pieces of thick-cut bacon reserving 1 or 2 pieces to eat while cooking

Whisk together olive oil mixture, Dijon, lemon juice, brown sugar and Cajun seasoning. 

 Pour over peeled shrimp.  Marinate for 30-45 minutes.  Don’t marinate longer or you will cook the shrimp.  The lemon acts as a cooking agent – This is how ceviche is made. 

Meanwhile, pan fry the bacon for 4-6 minutes. 

It should be somewhat cooked but not crisp as you need to wrap it around the shrimp.  Cut each piece of bacon in half and wrap one half piece around the middle of each marinated shrimp.  Secure with toothpick. 

I made the mistake of using colored toothpicks which turn your shrimp the color of the toothpick J.   Grill on medium until shrimp is opaque.  Please do not overcook these either. 

Thank you for your cooperation in advance of this matter.

Love,

Lindzee