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Grilled jalapeño shrimp that’s intoxicating, but not from the bourbon. It’s the great taste!
Shrimp So Delicious But So Easy
First I have to say I love shrimp. I buy it a lot because it’s often on sale for a great price–yes, even now!
I make a lot of shrimp recipes. My most recent was a Cajun shrimp and it was great, although it was the rice that was the star of that show.
In this recipe, the star is the grilled jalapeño shrimp and it’s due to the delicious marinade! The marinade combines pretty ordinary flavors, however when they’re mixed up together, it becomes something a lot more than the sum of it’s parts.
These shrimp are also easy to prepare and cook. And they’re perfect to make on the outside grill.
Jalapeños Supply The Heat
I have lots of jalapeños at the moment. I got on another rip with them when my Instacart shopper substituted them for Thai chiles. OK I wasn’t thrilled with the substitution because I actually needed small skinny red peppers, so I wanted to use them for something else other than scrambled eggs with cheese and diced jalapeños (this is a guilty pleasure of mine–try it). I found a similar recipe on my grocery store’s website whilst shopping and decided to make it with what I had.
The heat from the peppers offset the sweet and garlicky flavor of the shrimp. The effect is perfect. You also have the added “roasted” flavor that grilling gives the peppers.
If you don’t like heat, then a great substitution would be green or red bell peppers cut into about 1-inch/2.5cm squares. There is jalapeño in the marinade, but the slight amount of heat is offset by the other ingredients. Again, if you don’t want to take the chance, then substitute about 4 tablespoons of bell pepper. It won’t taste exactly the same, but it’ll be good.
A Word About Wooden Skewers
If you don’t have nice, long stainless skewers and use the wooden kind, make sure they are at least 10-inches/25 cm long. Remember you can always put small amounts on a large skewer but not the other way around.
You also must soak them in warm water for at least 30 minutes before using them. This retards them burning up and breaking. They will still singe, but the soaking makes the rate of burn much slower.
What I do to stop the bottom of the skewer burning or getting hot is I place that part off the front side of my gas grill so there’s no heat on it. Alternately, you can place a strip of foil under that part to prevent the burning and the end getting hot if you don’t want the ends hanging off the side of the grill.
The Recipe
Boozy Jalapeño Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra large shrimp peeled & deveined
- 4 jalapeños seeded & cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 4 long wooden skewers
Marinade:
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 2 tbs honey
- 1 tbs lime juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Place all marinade ingredients and 1 of the jalapeños in a blender and process until liquified. This will make approximately 3/4 cup.
- Preheat grill on high heat.
- Place the remaining jalapeños and shrimp in a plastic zipper bag. Pour in HALF the marinade. Seal bag and massage contents to coat the shrimp & peppers. Let this sit for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, soak the skewers in warm water for 20 minutes.
- Skewer shrimp & jalapeños, alternating a shrimp with a jalapeño piece.
- Place on grill and cook about 10 minutes, turning and basting with remaining marinade.
Matt Robinson says
Saw this on Foodie Ceush and now I’m obsessed. Can’t wait to try this!!
Matt Robinson recently posted…How To Make Caramelized Onions The Fast Way