Saturday, June 25, 2011

Hot-Sweet Shrimp Skewers and Minted White Bean Salad

This meal, like many that happen in my apartment, began with a recipe from EatingWell.com. And, like almost all of those meals, I edited a few things.
 The bean salad recipe calls for fresh sage and oregano, which besides being difficult to locate (understatement) in our local grocery store, I didn't imagine I would have much later use for. So I made the bean salad with some fresh chopped mint leaves, left out the tomato, and added a chopped radish instead. You could use chickpeas instead of the cannellini beans, or a mix of the two. This really couldn't be easier. My recipe serves two:

Ingredients:
1 can cannellini beans, or about 1 1/2 cups cooked beans
1 small handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 large rib of celery, finely chopped
1 radish, finely chopped
1 tsp. lemon juice
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Mix everything in a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, or as long as overnight.

For the shrimp (I cooked about 25, 5-per skewer), I made a sweet-spicy sauce. These measurements are all approximate, so definitely tweak it as you see fit.

Ingredients:
1 tsp dried cilantro
2 tsp sesame ginger salad dressing
1/2 tsp lemon or lime juice
Sriracha, to taste - I used about 1/2 tsp
1 tsp honey

25 shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions:
1. Combine all, and mix with shrimp. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes.
2. Skewer shrimp and grill until cooked through.
 I used my George Foreman Grill, which was a little awkward with the length of the skewers, but it all worked out fine. I did have to rearrange the skewers to make sure they were cooking evenly, but the whole grilling process only took about 6 minutes.

I served the bean salad and shrimp with some warm bulgur wheat. The shrimp came out nicely spicy-sweet, the bean salad was light and summery, and might even be better the day after. There were no leftovers tonight, so I can't say for sure!


Quote of the Day: Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans. ~ Marcelene Cox

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