Tag: grilling

Grilled Shrimp Scampi

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Easy entertaining is all about good preparation.  I have a book club with my mom, sisters and some very close friends.  Last month was my turn to host and I am just getting around to sharing with you all my menu…

Dinner for 8: All Grilled Menu… 1st Course – Grilled Romaine Salad topped with bacon, avocado and a homemade buttermilk ranch dressing.  2nd Course – Grilled Shrimp Scampi over linguine Fini and a Grilled Tostada.  3rd Course – Grilled Pound Cake with strawberries and grilled peaches dressed with a simple syrup and topped with homemade whipped cream.  Um… yum.

Grilling food is a great way to take a classic menu and give it a smoky twist. Grilling your fruit helps to bring out natural sugars in the caramelization process.  And grilling things like your lettuce, keep your guests on their toes!  And if you have everything prepared ahead of time, grilling keeps you out of the kitchen and outside with your guests!

Today we will start with the main course.  I didn’t focus on cooking the linguine fini, just follow the package instructions for that.  We will cover the Grilled Shrimp, the scampi sauce and the Grilled Tostada.

Start with your marinade:

Add in about 1-2 cups of dry white wine. This depends on your prep bowl, you need enough to cover the shrimp.

Add in a few slices of lemon and the juice of about 1 lemon.

Add in a few slices of lemon and the juice of about 1 lemon.

Add in some dried red ground pepper.

Add in some dried red ground pepper.

Add in a healthy pinch of kosher salt.

Stir all together and let marinade for about 20-30 minutes tops

Just before your guests arrive, skewer your shrimp and set aside. Having the shrimp on skewers helps to portion it all out.  Be sure to reserve the marinade liquid, it will be used in the next step.

For the scampi sauce:

Start off by melting one stick of butter into a large skillet… Remember, this is going to feed 8 people! (Be sure your skillet is really big, because all your pasta is coming in here a little later)

Thinly slice one whole onion.

Saute the onion until translucent over medium heat.

For the scampi, you will want about 8 cloves of garlic roughly chopped… I like one per guest.

Chop up some parsley and add in to your skillet.

Add about one cup of the reserved shrimp marinade in to the skillet.  Allow this to come to a simmer for about 5 minutes… you want to cook off both the alcohol from the marinade and the raw shrimp juices that made their way into that marinade. To this add in your drained pasta.  Allow it to cook together for a few minutes.

Place all your pasta in a large serving bowl and shave some parmesan cheese and some torn parsley over it.

Continue with the shrimp:

Grill your shrimp until you get nice grill marks on them and they turn pink. Don’t over cook them, that’s easy to do. Just 3-4 minutes on each side should do the trick. Also add lemons to your grill… I do one half a lemon for each guest… so I did 4 lemons.

For the Tostada:

For your Tostada, start with one loaf of french bread. (Italian is ok too)

Slice your loaf of bread on a bias.

Melt in a stick of butter into about a half cup of olive oil. remember this is going to feed 8 people!

Melt in a stick of butter into about a half cup of olive oil. remember this is going to feed 8 people!

You will need three cloves of garlic.

Using your garlic press. Press all three cloves of garlic into your warmed butter and oil.

Using your garlic press. Press all three cloves of garlic into your warmed butter and oil.

Last step in your garlic butter oil is to add about one teaspoon of kosher salt.

Last step in your garlic butter oil is to add about one teaspoon of kosher salt.

Brush one side of the bread liberally with garlic butter oil… I only do one side because I really like the flavor of the unbrushed side as much as the brushed side… If you want to do both sides, go for it.

Set aside the bread until your guests arrive.

When you place your shrimp on the grill, you can place the bread oil side down on the grill.

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From here people can either serve themselves… or you can plate each.  To plate:

On each person’s plate be sure to place pasta, a grilled lemon and a tostada. The shimp doesn’t take long to cook at all.

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Recipe for Grilled Shrimp Scampi with Garlic Tostada:

(serves 8)

Shrimp:

4 lbs. shrimp

2 lbs. linguine fini, cooked to al-dente

2 cups dry white wine

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 stick salted butter

5 lemons, divided

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shaved

Tostada:

1 loaf french bread, sliced on bias

1 stick salted butter

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, through press

1 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

For the shrimp:

Marinade – Combine wine, juice of one lemon, lemon slices, salt, red pepper flakes and shrimp.  Allow to marinade for about 20-30 minutes.  skewer. Set aside.  Reserve marinade.

Scampi sauce – Melt 1 stick of butter into a large skillet.  Saute onion until translucent.  Add in garlic, saute another minute or so. Add in parsley. Add in 1 cup of marinade liquid.  Simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add in drained pasta.  Allow to cook together for a few minutes.  Transfer to serving bowl and top with torn parsley and parmesan cheese.

Shrimp – Grill on each side for a couple minutes until pink on either side.

Tostada:

Thickly slice french bread on the bias, set aside.

In a small sauce pan melt butter with olive oil.  Add in garlic that has been run through a press. Add in salt.  Simmer for about a minute over medium heat.  Turn off and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Brush one side of each slice of bread liberally with garlic butter oil.

Place oiled side down on the grill for about 3-4 minutes per side.

Serve along side pasta.

Enjoy!

 

Starting a Charcoal Grill – no added chemicals

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There are a few types of grilling.  You can grill with gas, with charcoal or over an open fire, at least these are the most common ways.  Grilling over a campfire definitely has it’s fun side (when you are camping) and although I love the convenience of my gas grill, when I have the time, there is nothing like the flavor a hot charcoal grill.  That is, a chemical-free charcoal grill… so not a fan of lighter fluid chemicals seeping into my food.

In today’s tutorial, I will take you through my favorite method for lighting my charcoal grill.  There is a simple tool out there that I purchase about every other year for about $15 at my local hardware store, it’s called a Chimney Charcoal Starter.  There are a few different varieties, but the concept is the same with all of them.  Fill a canister with your brickets, pop in some newspaper underneath, light and wait… that’s it!  It’s that simple.

Let me show you:

This is a Chimney Charcoal Starter.

Start by stuffing some crumpled news paper in the bottom… Now, you don’t want to over stuff, you need air to circulate here.

This is what you will see when you turn it right side up.

Now fill it up with some charcoal brickets, whichever kind you like… but, I try and stay away from the light a bag kind, it’s more expensive and not needed. Just plain run of the mill charcoal will do fine.

It’s best to over fill a bit because as they begin to light, they will shrink down.

You’ll want to make sure your chimney is on the bottom rack of your grill. Then, take one of these handy stick lighters and light the newspaper.

Pretty immediately, this is what you will see.

Then the smoke clears up a bit once all the paper is burned off and this is what you see.

Then the smoke clears up a bit once all the paper is burned off and this is what you see.

As you can see they are starting to shrink down… These brickets are just about ready to turn out. I used to let them all turn white, but I found that I was losing too much of the charcoal to ash before I could start using it.

Be sure to use two pot holders at this point as this can be hot. With a pot holder you can use that stabilizing arm you see here. (That’s the thick metal bar thing.) One more tip for this part is to not stand down wind… this is very important as there will be cinders, lots and lots of cinders. I learned this the hard way when I got a cinder stuck in my shoe! Not fun.

And there you have it. Since I did not wait until everything was white, I give this another 5-10 minutes before I cook on it. But, at this point I do add the top grill grate on to start heating it up.

And there you have it.  You will want to be sure your brickets are more toward one side of the grill to create some temperature fluxuation… What you want to create is a “hot” side of the grill and a “cool” side.  This will aid in cooking. Since I did not wait until everything was white, I give this another 5-10 minutes before I cook on it (otherwise your food will get ashy). But, at this point I do add the top grill grate on to start heating it up.

This whole process takes some time, about 45 minutes or so, but definitely the best way to light a charcoal grill I have found thus far. Then you are ready to grill up some great recipes like my Portuguese Style Grilled Chicken or my Low-carb Grilled Veggies!  Give this simple way of lighting a grill without lighter fluid a try.  Let me know how you do!