It was always true in my old neck of the woods and it’s even more the case in the Houston area — weather changes at the drop of a hat.
One minute, I’m harvesting basil from my little plant to make a weeknight minestrone — it is November, after all — then I get bitten by a mosquito and almost simultaneously get a text alert that my favorite purveyor of organic veggies has just received a shipment of local vine-ripened tomatoes.
Though I prefer seasons (all four of them), one nifty thing about living along the Gulf Coast of Texas is the abundance of warm water shrimp that are harvested wild here year-round. It’s also pretty cool that I can grill in my flip-flops and Bermuda shorts about 11 months a year.
The following recipe is an easy one — perhaps the easiest I’ve ever featured here. Serve Salsa Grilled Shrimp atop a cool salad, as a nacho topper, a main ingredient in Mexican Shrimp Fried Rice or grill-to-mouth, with a squeeze of lime juice. No matter what time of year it is, this easy dish tastes just like summer.
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Salsa Grilled Shrimp
Salsa Grilled Shrimp — It’s always summer with these plump beauties.
- 1 lb — Extra large (16-21 ct) shrimp, peeled and deveined
- ½ cup — Tomato-based salsa
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 6-8 — Bamboo skewers, soaked in water for about 20 minutes
- Skewer 5-6 shrimp near the tails, then — with another skewer — near the tops. (Make sure they are fairly close together, as in the photo.)
- Place skewers over a wide bowl, so that shrimp are suspended, and refrigerate for about an hour.
- Heat grill to high. If using charcoal, pile it high so that grill is very hot. (We're going to cook these shrimp very quickly.)
- Brush shrimp liberally with olive oil.
- Place skewered shrimp on hot grill and cook for about 3 minutes.
- Turn to grill the other side; baste grilled side liberally with salsa.
- After grilling 1 minute on the other side, shrimp should be mostly pink. Flip one more time and baste other side with salsa.
- Turn off heat and allow shrimp to rest on grill for about a minute.
- Serve with lime wedges as an appetizer. Serve over a bed of buttered rice as a main dish.