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Griling for the Holiday

recipe

The best grilled shrimp

We had a great Memorial Day BBQ. With grilled potatoes, corn, shrimp, onions, turkey sausage and veggie doggers. You can see more over at Flickr.

The grilled shrimp I did were especially good. The best I've ever done and the best I've ever had. Here's a shot at a recipe:

Read on for a recipe for "Grilled Shrimp"...

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Grilled Shrimp

Get your grill going... it should be hot with the coals 3-4" from the grill.

  • 1/2 lb. medium count shrimp (about 15-20)
  • one yellow onion
  • three cloves garlic
  • 1/4-1/2 c. olive oil
  • lemon or a couple squirts of lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. ground (dry) mustard
  • 1 tsp. dry basil
  • salt, pepper, other seasonings as you wish
  • beer (ale)

Directions (serves two):

  1. Clean shrimp for grilling: Thaw shrimp and wash them in water; place in strainer to drip dry. With a serrated knife, cut shallowly down the back of the shell of each shrimp. With a sharp, non-serrated knife, cut each shrimp almost all the way through to the feet/arms/whatever those things are. Under running water (in a sink with no dishes... bacteria is bad), open shrimps up and remove all traces of yucky "vein".

  2. Marinate shrimp. Mince garlic and sprinkle in the bottom of a bowl. Place shrimp over the garlic in the bottom of the bowl. Shrimp should be butterflied (the two haves separated and the shrimps pressed flat, shell/tail side up. Place onions, chopped in ringed slices (grilling anything but rings sucks), over the shrimp. Mix the other ingredients, save beer, to form a marinade base in a separate bowl. Marinade should taste bright, tangy and a tad salty (the beer will dilute). Pour mixture over shrimps, onion and garlic in the marinade bowl. Poor half of a beer over mixture. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, shake the mixture vigorously from time to time.

  3. Cook shrimps. Remove shrimps, one-by-one, from marinade dish, and fold halves together (so that none of the meat inside will be directly exposed to grill heat). Place each shrimp on the grill. Do this quickly and remember where you started placing the shrimp down. Quickly baste shrimps with marinade. When shrimp meat on the grill side starts to become opaque (after a minute or so), turn them starting with the first you put down. Baste the shrimp again. It's important that you take the shrimp off the grill a few seconds after the last trace of pinkness leaves the meat.

  4. Let cool for a minute or two and eat them immediately. The good thing about shrimp cooked like this is that all the meat very easily separates from the shell by a quick pull on the where-the-head-used-to-be region pulling down towards the tail and away from the shell. You can serve these with a simple cocktail sauce (6 tbsp. ketchup, 2 tbsp. horseradish, lemon juice, worchester sauce, salt and pepper) or just by themselves.

  5. Put the onions on the grill after the shrimp... they're great in a bun with a cylindrical meat stuff such as veggie dogs or turkey sausages (brush those puppies with oil before they touch a hot grill!).