It's a beautiful Sunday morning and I'm sitting at the kitchen counter reading the news and sipping my coffee. The sun is out, the sky is blue and it's the most amazing morning. I feel happy and relaxed and smile for no reason other than the burst of emotion that comes when I let myself relax and just 'be' in the moment.I do have to bring my teenage son and 2 friends to camp today but after I return, I have no pressing plans. Oh, the house could use straightening, dishes to be done and with three teens there is always another load of laundry I could do, but I don't work at the office today and we have enough groceries that I don't have to push through crowds to shop for bread and milk on my 'day off' this weekend and really, I can just relax if I wish.
Which of course is exactly when I love to cook! Tonight I'll be using the grill of course - that's a given with me on as many summer nights as I can. I have almost 3 gallons of freshly picked green beans from our garden to use up and although I have 3 steaks thawed and ready to cook, my mouth waters at the thought of even more seafood. I'm always craving seafood!
Thanks to Southern Living and their family of cooking magazines, I found this recipe and tweaked it only a bit before adding it to my files. See what you think!
Lemon Dijon Grilled Shrimp
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
2 tablespoons capers
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup boiling water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 1/4 pounds unpeeled jumbo shrimp
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Peel shrimp, leaving the tails intact. Starting at tail end, butterfly each shrimp, cutting to, but not through, underside of shrimp.
Combine the dill, onions, vinegar, capers, lemon, salt, honey, mustard, black pepper, hot pepper sauce and garlic in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the oil and water and blend again.
Combine shrimp, 6 tablespoons of the vinaigrette, and red pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 15 minutes, turning bag occasionally.
Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Remove shrimp from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle shrimp evenly with salt and black pepper. Place the shrimp, cut sides down, on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 2 minutes on each side or until done, basting frequently with the remaining 6 tablespoons of vinaigrette.
