MY BEST PICTURE
STORY
We went to Iron Hill Brewery back in the fall and ate outside. Taylor had the NERVE to order a grilled shrimp Cesar salad, an off-the-menu type of order. While I was concerned about the pending up-charge, she was enjoying the hell out of her salad. It inspired me to make a better one at half the cost, and that is where this recipe comes from.
INGREDIENTS
- 10 “Jumbo” raw frozen shrimp
- 1 Pre-packed romaine heart (this was also “Jumbo”)
- 1 Cucumber
- 8 Grape tomatoes
- 1 Lemon
- 2 Tablespoons pecorino romano cheese
- 1 Tablespoon of butter
- 2 Garlic cloves
- Olive oil
- Salt & Pepper
HOW I COOKED IT
My least favorite part about frozen shrimp is that, well, they’re frozen. I placed 10 of the rock-solid shrimp in a bowl of room temperature water for 30 minutes. This thawed them out, so I was able to take the shells off. I rested the shrimp on a paper towel, and patted the tops of them dry with another square of paper towel. Once the shrimp were thawed and patted dry I seasoned the shrimp with salt and pepper. I threw them on two skewers, 5 shrimp on each. It is important to say, I pre-soaked the skewers in warm water from about 30 minutes to prevent them from catching fire on the grill.
I turned the grill on high, and started to heat it up. I washed the jumbo romaine heart and rubbed olive oil, salt and pepper on the outside of the leaves. I used a skewer that I pre-soaked for the shrimp to push through the center and sort of “tie up” any loose romaine leaves. For my last part of grill-prep, I cut a lemon in half for some serious squeezing.
After the grill was nice and hot, I threw on the shrimp skewers and had my romaine heart on standby. I squeezed some lemon juice on the shrimp and closed the grill lid for about 3 minutes. After 3 minutes I flipped the shrimp, and gave the the lemon another good squeeze all over the shrimp and closed the grill lid for an additional 3 minutes.
On my side burner, I turned a small pan on high and added my olive oil and my butter. I let the butter melt down, and added my two garlic cloves using a garlic crusher. I let that go with some stirring for about 3 minutes before I took the shrimp off the grill and scraped them from the skewer and into my pan with the butter and garlic. I squeezed what was left of my half of lemon from grilling on to the pan. I let this go with constant stirring for 4 minutes. This was done and I turned the heat off and left everything in the pan.
While my grill was still piping hot, I threw the romaine heart on and pressed it down on the grill using my hand to create a quick sear. I did not want to wilt the lettuce too much. I did this for 30 seconds on each of the 4 sides of the romaine heart. This was now done, and I took it off the grill and brought everything inside.
I cut my cherry tomatoes in half, threw them in a big bowl, then I cut my cucumber up into manageable sized pieces and threw them in the bowl as well. I chopped my romaine heart in bite-size chunks and threw them into the party. I drizzled a little olive oil and squeezed my second half of lemon onto the mixture in the bowl and tossed. Then, the best part, I dumped the shrimp and all of the juices from the pan on top of the salad. I sprinkled everything with some pecorino romano and it was completed. Smelled great.
MY HONEST OPINION
This was a fun salad to make. It turned out so delicious and simple. I was originally going to add Cesar dressing, but decided against it. All of that wonderful flavor was in the sauce pan with the garlic, lemon and butter. To top off how great the flavor was, the lemon sort of cut through everything and made it feel bright. It made the slight charred romaine pieces sing a beautiful, flavor song.
WHAT I WOULD TRY NEXT TIME
This will be hard to top, and I think adding a little spice will brighten this up. I am considering grilling a jalapeno, or just adding some red pepper flake to the shrimp in the sauce pan for next time.