Grilled Shrimp Appetizer

I made several dishes last weekend. Some very good, some not so. It happens. Fortunately it was just my very close family that suffered. First off, on Friday night, I made this really delicious, really simple grilled shrimp appetizer. Here are all the ingredients. 

I didn’t measure and you won’t have to either. I know you all have good enough judgment to make this work. Just eye it and feel it and you’ll do a-ok. Eat this dish with friends as you’ll want to suck the shrimp shells of all the smokey spicy wonderfulness and you’ll get all messy peeling them – but they’re so good.

You see, I went to buy salmon fillets to roast and serve with my already made rhubarb marmalade and then I saw the shrimp. My husband LOVES shrimp. Me? Ehh. It’s good, but I never crave it like I do oysters! (He hates oysters) But I know he loves shrimp, yet I really wanted salmon for dinner and the marmalade was already made. So I bought 9 shrimp – as an appetizer!! 5 for him, 4 for me. And then on the drive up to the country, I completely forgot about them. We arrived, unpacked and here I was surprised by the shrimp (duh – I bought them.) and had to figure out something quick to do with them as it was getting late. Here’s what I did – and they were scrumptious!!

GRILLED SHRIMP APPETIZER – serves 2

9 – 10 large shrimp with shells on, rinsed several times and patted dry
Salt
Pepper
1 star anise
1 red chili, crushed with seeds
Swirl of olive oil
Smoked paprika – heavy sprinkling

Combine and toss all ingredients together. Let marinate for 10 -15 minutes. Toss on the grill on high heat for about 2 minutes, just until pink and done. Serve immediately.

It’s finger lickin’ good!

Then, last Saturday, I was determined to make pizzas from homemade pizza dough. The Times had a big article on pizza dough and pizzas the previous Wednesday and I was hyped. Our oldest son was coming to the country with his girlfriend for the weekend and I was making these pizzas with a big beautiful salad to greet them when they arrived for lunch. Well, the pizzas sucked. They looked good but the only one that was any good was the pesto. Before I tell you any more, I really need to work on this one. The Mario Batali recipe needs some refining. Actually he has about three different recipes online for the dough and I need to get the 00 flour – that I couldn’t find. So stay tuned and I’ll find that flour and try this one again – and then tell you about it. xoxo, Mary