It is Friday in Lent. We are making our way through the fish section.
This recipe is fairly easy compaired to others in the book. The same sauce is used to marinate the shrimp and to mix in with the Orzo. What is an "Orzo" you might ask as I did. It is not a card game or an Italian sports car. It is a little rice-shaped pasta. When giving directions for pasta, the book always just says cook in salted water until al dente. I think Al Dente was a utility infielder for the Yankees back in the 50s. In any event, I guess he must have liked his pasta just a little chewy because that is what al dente seems to mean.
If I make this recipe again I will use half the olives called for. They sort of overpowered all of the other flavors. Anyone know why a recipe like this would call for 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest? What does the zest add? I added it and no one said "boy, nice lemon zest!" Once you put in a 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice it seems like you have got the lemon flavor front covered.
And another thing - how the heck are you supposed to devein shrimp. I mean I did it but what?? There must be an easier way. The shrimp in this recipe was our favorite so far. I think I like the recipes that call for peeling the shrimp before grilling. Sixteen jumbo shrimp for 4 people really is not enough unless there is a lot of other food. We were only having the shrimp and orzo salad. I think if I do it again, I will make 8 shrimp per person - seems like a lot, but I would rather have leftovers. The shrimp cooks in less than 5 minutes so it would be easy to do a lot of skewers if needed.
By the way, I was cooking with a slight handicap this evening as I slipped on the ice the other day and dislocated a finger and strained my shoulder. Mrs. Grill'n played sous chef and did all of the heavy lifting!
Mark
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Mrs. Grill'n says: We are definitely concluding that grilling fresh shrimp, as opposed to previously cooked, makes a big difference. These had a great flavor, and stood up to the grilling very well. As to the feta/orzo salad that underlay the shrimp, I would not recommend this one. Mr. Grill'n is right - there are too many black olives - and that from a person who loves black olives! However, the shrimp is a nice match with this style of salad, so either use this one with toned down olives, or get your favorite recipe for lemon/feta/orzo and use that. The roasted vegetable one in Barefoot Contessa Parties would be a great choice - maybe we'll try that one with this shrimp one day, and grill the vegetables instead of roasting them. That could be sensational...
ReplyDeleteYum yum yum yum yum yum
ReplyDelete- Steve
I "deveined" quite a bit of shrimp back at the fish counter at Kohl's and, so far as I can remember, nope, there's no better way. Of course, that thing isn't a "vein", either, so..yeah.
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