Posts Tagged ‘shrimp’

Grilled Bacon Wrapped SoCo Colossal Shrimp

Posted: August 25, 2012 in Food, Main course, On the grill
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A common question I get is “Where in the world do you come up with this stuff?”. There really isn’t a method to this madness. It just happens. Sometimes tasty dishes kinda come out of nowhere. I like to do things spur of the moment perform better when I’m rushed. This particular evening I lost track of time before the family got home from school/work and I knew if something wasn’t cooked by the time the Mrs. got home, there was a pretty good chance I’d be in trouble. I remembered we had some Colossal shrimp in the freezer. Hmmm… As I walked up the stairs I noticed a bottle of Southern Comfort sitting on the bar in the basement. “Hey SoCo! Do you want some shrimp today too? Come on! we’re in a hurry!”
Upstairs in the fridge, SoCo and I find some bacon. “Well that makes everything better doesn’t it?”. SoCo didn’t say anything back, I took it to mean he was too overly excited with the thought of bacon on some shrimp. Now we need something to “hold” the seasoning. Since honey is our normal staple, decided to go with the dark agave nectar and switch it up this time. If you’ve read some of the past shrimp/lobster posts, they normally use a heated sauce I brush on while grilling. This time we’re letting it soak, no brush. (All SoCo’s suggestion)

Colossal Shrimp peeled and deveined
Agave nectar (or honey (or maple syrup if you’re short on the first 2 options))
Garlic Powder
Old Bay seasoning (or if you’re in the deep south area try Swamp Fire)
Southern Comfort
Bacon (a half strip for each shrimp)
Toothpicks
DisAronno Amaretto in a spray water bottle (this is extra credit, I pulled this out at the last minute as I walked outside)

Get your grill started and ready for direct grilling.
Place your shrimp in a bowl and (I’m sorry I really didn’t measure this at all, I was in a rush remember?) pour on some Southern Comfort and Agave nectar. Enough to let the shrimp sit in it but not be covered. See the pics in the slideshow below for an idea. Definitely use more Southern Comfort than the Agave nectar, as too much “sugar” will burn when cooking. Toss the shrimp, mix it up, get the juices all in the shrimp. Generously add garlic powder and Old Bay and toss again. I say generously add because a lot of the seasoning will come off into the liquid. Wrap each shrimp with bacon, hold in place with a toothpick on each end, and return to the Southern Comfort Agave nectar bowl.

Brush the hot grates with a napkin dipped in olive oil, (or if you have time and feeling funky fresh, cut an onion in half, and dip that in olive oil and brush the grates with it). Place the shrimp on the grill and cover. Let grill for about 4-5 minutes. Turn the shrimp (if you are using the amaretto, spray each shrimp before turning. note that amaretto is flammable and will cause a flare up but it should be real short lived). Cover and let cook another 5 or so minutes. Spray with amaretto again and turn if needed until bacon looks done to your liking.

ENJOY!

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Bang Bang Shrimp…and Lobster

Posted: April 2, 2011 in Food
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My wife loooooves Bonefish Grill.  Unfortunately, we haven’t had much time lately to really go there and enjoy good food with everything going on in our lives now.  So you can imagine my gears were churning when fellow foodie Allyson Cook mentioned to me that she tried a recipe for Bonefish’s Bang Bang Shrimp.  A perfect surprise dinner to prep for the wife after a long week.  I also had a couple of lobster tails to spare so I tried two of them on the side as well. The only downfall was as soon as I put them in the oil, poor Nariah wanted to have a bang bang boom boom crash in the living room so I had to tend to her while the lobster tails got a little crispy. The recipe below is enough for 4 people to eat. It was a lot of shrimp. a whole lot of shrimp, we actually had leftovers.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
3 drops Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (or more to taste)
1 pound shelled and deveined shrimp
(2 lobster tails, shelled and deveined, optional)
oil for frying
lettuce
chopped scallions
Dry cornstarch (I used House of Autry chicken breader here. Ever since that one day with my cousin in Richmond, VA, in the seafood section of Food Lion. The head of seafood there told us to never ever use seafood breader or corn meal etc. with seafood, but to use this chicken breader, and I haven’t found anything to top it, personal opinion of course.)

PREPARATION:

Get your seafood ready.


Shell the shrimp. Cut the lobster meat up into bite sized chunks after shelling.


Mix mayonnaise with Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. Add hot sauce to taste.

All mixed up.


I did the lobster tails first. Semi-dry and dredge the tails in the chicken breader. Dredging lets you lightly coat the tail to give a thin batter unlike when you toss the meat in batter or use heavy coats. Simply take the tails and lightly roll it into the breader, covering all sides. You still want to somewhat see the meat. Fry on medium heat until golden brown. I don’t have pics of this step due to the daredevil child crashing in the living room as mentioned above, LOL.


Toss the lobster in the prepared sauce.


Server on on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce and top with scallions.


Now dredge the shrimp in the batter.


Fry the shrimp until lightly brown. (I was able to watch it this time!)


Just a close up of the shrimp.


Drain on paper towel.


Toss and coat shrimp with the sauce.


Serve in a lettuce lined bowl, top with chopped scallions.

Thanks again Allyson!!!!!

Shrimp a la Ryan (a quick dish)

Posted: February 16, 2011 in Food, Main course
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So it has been awhile since I’ve made this dish and Toya made a request in the form of “You know what you haven’t made in a long time???”. And before she could even answer the question, somehow I knew she meant Shrimp a la Ryan, even though there’s plenty of other dishes I need to dust off the shelves again.  If you don’t have much time for dinner, this will definitely help as it is a quick dish. Ingredients needed are :

A pound or two of jumbo shrimp, (I used tiger shrimp from Sam’s)
Spaghetti noodles
1/3 to 1/2 bag of broccoli florets (I used frozen ones for this dish)
Green, red, orange, and yellow peppers, or any combination of your liking (chives also work well here)
Old Bay Seasoning
Cracked peppercorn
Garlic Powder
Alfredo Sauce
Malibu coconut rum

Wash your shrimp

De-vein and shell your shrimp

Cut the shrimp in halves

Start preparing your noodles, when they are halfway done, add frozen broccoli to the water and return to boil.

Cook on med-high with butter and a little olive oil until pink on bottom

Flip and cook till pink on the other side

Add peppers (these are previously chopped up fresh peppers then frozen)

The special ingredient.  Add Malibu to just “bathe” the shrimp, you don’t need to drown them.  Try to aim for a level of 1/3 the height of the shrimp

Add your seasoning here, stirring lightly. The amount depends on your personal taste.

The later in the cooking process you add the seasonings, the more likely they “stick” to the food as the alcohol forms a glue-like glaze while it cooks

When noodles are done, place noodles and broccoli on plate. With a spoon, lightly spread some Alfredo Sauce over the noodles. You don’t want to use too much here, just enough to give the noodles some “Ummph”.  I know you’re thinking Alfredo sauce and Malibu????  Trust me on this one.

Add shrimp to top of noodles and broccoli and any remaining “residuals”


Enjoy!
Overall, this meal should take about 20 minutes or less if  you’re boiling the noodles while you’re cooking the shrimp.