Throw Another Shrimp on the Barbie

Even though Labor Day traditionally marks the end of outdoor grilling, unless you enjoy meat seasoned with the sweat of the cook, you almost have to wait till after summer to start outdoor cooking season in Texas. You can cook almost anything on an open flame if you have enough time to invest. And it usually turns out healthier because the fat drips off instead of the food cooking in it. Also, most of your favorite healthy foods – veggies, chicken, fish, even tofu- taste best when grilled outside.

All day Sunday I was craving shrimp and chimichurri sauce. Not sure why, except they’re both awesome.  Then when it looked like it was going to rain, I just HAD to go outside and grill. For most people, rain is a deterrent to outdoor grilling. Not me. Anything that’s awesome is at least twice as awesome in the rain. FACT.

For all my bitching about recipes, I did have to look up chimichurri sauce to make sure I didn’t miss an ingredient. And it’s a good thing, too, because I would have forgotten the cumin if I were just winging it and cumin is key. Anyway, the recipe is below, with the instructions for the rest of this meal:

Grilled shrimp and chimichurri sauce on white rice with fire-roasted vegetables and watercress salad.

You will need:

Fresh watercress

Rice (I use boil-in-bag whenever possible)

Raw medium-jumbo shrimp

Red onions

Tomatoes

Other veggies as you like

Margarine

Brown sugar

White Vinegar

Lemon juice

Dry seasoning to taste

Chimichurri Sauce:

Fresh Italian Parsley - 1cup

Fresh Cilantro - 1/4 cup

Garlic - 2 cloves minced

Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon

Olive Oil - 1/2-3/4 cup as needed (depends on how dry the herbs are)

Red Wine Vinegar - 1/3 cup (or more to taste)

Put white vinegar and olive oil in a baking dish and add the raw, peeled, de-veined shrimp. Cover with Dry seasoning and refrigerate. Put all the ingredients of the chimichurri sauce into a food processor and blend until smooth. Halve red onions and cut a small slice off of the rounded side of each half so they will sit flat on a plate. Add margarine and a bit of brown sugar to the flat tops of each half and refrigerate. In a bowl, soak whole tomatoes and any other veggies you want in vinegar and oil and dry seasoning. Fire up the grill. Put everything directly on the grill (as shown.) If your shrimp are small enough to fall through, put them on a higher rack and lay tin foil underneath to catch the ones who try to escape.

Boil rice inside on the stove. After about 20 minutes, it’s ready to eat. I literally did nothing to the watercress other than put it on the plate. It just adds a delicious, fresh flavor to the background of the rest of this vinegar-heavy meal. Leftovers are even better the next day after the flavors marry and are absorbed into every grain of rice and morsel of shrimp…. OMGYUM!

There you are. Virtually no effort and once it’s cooked, this meal boasts near-zero fat and very low calorie. Sodium levels will depend on the dry seasoning you use and cholesterol will be determined by your choice of meat. Shrimp and other seafood are freebies in the cholesterol department, as we have discussed before, so eat up.

You're welcome.