Ginger and Lemongrass Grilled Shrimp

This a super tasty (and healthy!) recipe and I am using it as my first submission for the "Weekend Cookbook Challenge." It is also my first "food blog challenge" whatsoever -- a food blog challenge is basically participating in an organized "challenge" where a theme of cooking/food/etc is chosen. The theme for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge #28 is "TV Cooks" - see the link above for more info.

This shrimp dish was a compliment to the flank steak that I was already making for mother's day at my mom's house. We wanted to grill, though the weather did not participate and it was rainy and chilly. My mom loves seafood and the flank steak had my typical asian marinade, so I thought this shrimp recipe would be a perfect one to try.

The only thing I changed is that I skipped the honey and used 3 or 4 packets of splenda, so that this dish was perfect for those who are watching their sugar! Oh, I also skipped the presentation aspects of the radicchio, watercress, and lime - though I'm sure that would have been great. We had other veggies for our meal.

This recipe is brought to you by Wolfgang Puck, as found on the Food Network website. I also apologize for the hastily taken photos,... it was mother's day and I didn't feel like spending a lot of time posing food .. just wanted to eat!! This is an attractive dish! I noted below that there wasn't a red bell pepper at my local market, so I was stuck with yellow. The red would make this even more beautiful! By the by, I used Costco flank steak and shrimp, for the first time, and both were excellent!



Ginger and Lemongrass Grilled Shrimp
by Wolfgang Puck

24 Large shrimp, peeled, de-veined with tails left on (I used frozen medium-size which also worked perfect, just had more shrimp)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh lemongrass
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves chopped garlic
5 scallions, white cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths, and greens chopped (I used more scallions)
1/4 cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil (this is an important flavor)
1 tablespoon honey (I substituted a few packets of splenda here)
1 red bell pepper, seeds and stem removed (Nino's actually had no red bell pepper so I used yellow!)
Peanut oil, for drizzling
1 small head radicchio, nice outer leaves reserved and the rest chiffonade (I skipped this)
1 bunch watercress, cleaned (I also skipped)
1 lime (I forgot about this)

You'll also need enough skewers, and I used roughly 12. Soak wood skewers in water for 30 minutes before using.

Original Directions:
In a large nonreactive bowl, combine the lemongrass, ginger, garlic, scallion greens, soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey (splenda) and whisk well. Add shrimp and toss to coat. Marinate in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes.

Note: I mixed the marinade up ahead of time, and then brought it with the skewered shrimp & veggies up to my mom's. I marinaded the shrimp for 30 minutes, while the grill heated up, etc. It worked out great.

Skewer the shrimp, scallion whites, and red bell peppers onto skewers in whatever order you like. There should be at least 4-6 shrimp per skewer.

Place the skewers on a flat plate and drizzle with peanut oil. It is not necessary to salt the skewers because soy sauce has so much salt in it. Place the shrimp skewers on the grill and cook about 3 minutes per side, or just until the shrimp curls, turns red, and does not appear clear at all. Be careful not to overcook.

Note: This whole next section, I skipped:

Place the whole radicchio leaves around the edge of a platter. Mound the chiffonade radicchio and watercress inside the leaves and around the platter. Remove the skewers from the grill and place on the bed of greens. Squeeze the juice of a lime over the shrimp.


We just all grabbed a skewer or two, and ate them with our flank steak and veggies. The shrimp were delicious and I hope you enjoy it, too!