.spicy mango shrimp.

Happy April Fools!  I thought about pulling a joke on you all, but voted against it.  Instead, I decided to post another recipe. :)

I have to tell you about my oldest daughter, Paige.  She LOVES shrimp.  She could eat it every day for the rest of her life.  Okay, maybe not.  She'd probably want to throw crab in there too.  She's only 7 and loves crab, shrimp, lobster.... that's my girl!  Such a refined palate.   This was her choice of dinner the other night.  She was a little concerned about the spice, but I only put a little red chili  pepper in and it was good.  Both she and Perry snarfed their meal!!  I was impressed.

This dish is SO easy and fast.  You can have it made and on the table in 30 minutes flat.  Really!  Let me show you.


You're going to need the following:

2 Tbsp honey, 1/4 cup olive oil, half of one mango (save the other half for grilling), 2 tsp grated gingerroot, 1/4 cup lime juice, 1 tsp red thai curry paste (not pictured), and some red chili flakes.  

You can adjust how hot you want this.  If you don't want any heat, leave the flakes out entirely.  Put a few in.  Don't be scared.  It won't be hot, but it will give the sauce a little kick that gives the shrimp a real "wow" factor.  If you want them really hot, dump more pepper flakes in.

Put those ingredients in a blender and puree till smooth.  Transfer to a bowl.

Because of Paige's great love for shrimp, I keep a humongous bag in my freezer.  These thaw so easily and quick by running them under the faucet.  Don't use hot water, but around room temp.   

I buy the peeled and deveined shrimp.. however the last time I was at the store, the only ones I could find still had the shell so if yours have shells.. peel them off.  

Skewer those babies up and get them ready for cooking.

Once they're on skewers, brush both sides liberally with the mango sauce.

Put them on a hot grill, or grill pan and let them sear on each side.  You want some nice grill markings on these but don't let them cook too long or else they'll become rubbery and hard.  

What I did was grill for about a minute on one side, flip.  While it was cooking the other side, I basted with more sauce, flipped and basted the other side, then flipped one last time (so they cooked 2x on each side)

As you can see, I also grilled slices of the mango.  When you grill fruit, it changes the flavor a little because the heat draws out some of the sugars, and the heat caramelizes it a little.  So delicious.

When your shrimp have cooked, pull from the grill and serve!  I made some couscous to go on the side and was a perfect compliment to the shrimp.

So next time you're in a hurry for dinner, think about this dish for your family.  It's sure to be a winner!

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_153fvw9csgw