Today’s Friday Foto is about as simple as a recipe can get – just three (3!) ingredients. All you need are raw, uncooked shrimp, olive oil, and seasoning. That’s it.
As the recipe name implies, the seasoning in question is Old Bay. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Old Bay. When used over seafood, it’s very easy to be too heavy-handed. I remember years ago, when I was on a vacation to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, I ordered soft shell crab from a renowned local seafood joint. To my dismay, the crab was served so covered in Old Bay that I couldn’t even taste the crab meat. (The chef would have done well to follow Old Bay’s current tag line: “Bold flavor. Sprinkle responsibly.”)
Used in just the right amount, however, Old Bay can be a wonderful complement to a wide array of seafood flavors, including shrimp. To make our grilled Old Bay shrimp, you could use name-brand Old Bay, or you could do as we do…mix up your own seafood seasoning blend. (We provide a recipe on page 53 of our cookbook, to go along with our crab cakes…)
Then, to make the recipe:
Start with raw/uncooked, peeled and deveined shrimp. (For the photo above, I used 31-40 count shrimp, and grilled about 25, which yielded enough shrimp for dinner for Kelli and me, plus a few for Marin.) Then skewer the shrimp so that they’re ready to grill.
Next, whip up a wet rub. Simply mix together equal parts Old Bay / seafood seasoning and olive oil. About 1-2 tbsp each will be more than enough to season 25 shrimp. Use less for more shrimp flavor and milder spice; use more for a bigger kick. Coat the shrimp.
Lastly, cook the shrimp over a preheated grill. When grilling shrimp, I like to do about 80% of the cooking on one side. Then I flip the shrimp once to finish off the cooking, which takes just a minute or two more. Delish.
Enjoy!
– Pete
What a great photo!
Congrats on the new book! I hope it does great!
Just wondering if you might know something about pasta…I want to make fresh pasta and my sister in law is allergic to rice! Before I get in the kitchen and just start experimenting and waste a bunch of stuff, can you tell me what I might be able to substitute? All the gluten free pasta recipes I find are based on rice. I will tell you she is pretty picky, but I really don’t want wheat pasta cooked in my kitchen.
thank you for any help.
Pete–I have a very similar recipe on my blog … just done in the oven. Grilling is great for warm weather to keep the heat out of the kitchen. 🙂
The Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger post is up! And, the giveaway, too. Thanks so much for graciously donating one of your books.
Shirley
Hi Wendy… Glad you like the photo! And thanks for the congrats on the book! I saw your similar question over at Gluten Free Easily (as well as Shirley’s informed response). For store-bought GF pastas, as she mentions, there are options ranging from brown rice to corn to quinoa to buckwheat. If rice is out, my personal preference is for quinoa-based pastas. If you’re making pasta dough from scratch, you also have options. These days, I use our Artisan GF Flour Blend, which is comprised of brown rice flour, sorghum flour, cornstarch, potato flour and starch, and xanthan gum. Sorghum flour used on its own usually results in a more crumbly texture in baked goods. In this case, though, if you omitted the brown rice flour from our flour blend, the sorghum would still be mixed with enough other ingredients that it might work. Also, without the rice flour, the sorghum will make the flour blend darker and more “whole grain” tasting, and that will come through in the pasta as well.
Hi Shirley… I’ll have to check out your similar recipe! I like to grill year-round… this winter, I literally kept a path shoveled through the snow to reach the grill! =) I’ll check out your posts.
Cheers,
Pete
thank you for all your help!!
It is a nice photo but the shrimp are overcooked. Skewer 1 through the head and 1 through the tail. Season with kosher salt. Grill 2 minutes per side. Eat.
Hi Anonymous… In this case, we were intentionally going for a little grill char on the shrimp for both taste and texture (without cooking them so much as to make them rubbery…).
Cheers, Pete