Life Currents

Sometimes before my husband leaves on business travel we like to make a fancy all day meal-event. This time he said he’d like to grill something. But, what? If he was going to be gone it didn’t make sense that he’d make a steak or anything big and meaty because he wouldn’t be here to eat the leftovers.

Shrimp! I’d eat them, and it’s doubtful that there would actually be any leftover shrimp because you can choose how many you make. And, I remembered watching that master of the BBQ, Steven Raichlen, make some spectacular shrimpy grilled goodness. I even remembered pinning the recipe.

So, we based our meal off of that. We decided not to make the blue cheese dip. But, garlic bread sounded really good. Maybe we’d make my sourdough grillers again.

Sourdough grillers ready to be eaten (in the background you can see the bright orange Sriracha mop sauce and the butter-queso fresco mixture for the corn)

I remembered that I saw fresh corn on the cob at the store the other day. It’s a little early in the season, but I knew it would be pretty good, even now. And, the husband thought it’d be fun to do a Mexican style corn with butter, cheese, and spices. Oh, and the spices should be a little Cajun. And, we decided to make sweet potato fries to round it all out.

The entire meal was a huge success. Delicious doesn’t really even begin to describe the whole thing. Those shrimp were filled with flavor. A little spicy, but in a good tingly way. Perfectly cooked with a nice smoky grilled flavor. The garlic giving a nice bite while the butter mellowed everything out. Just delish! We’ll be making these again in a couple weeks for company. They were that good.

The corn was awesome. Some salted butter. Some crumbled queso fresco. Some Cajun spices. Mix that all together. Once the corn came off the grill, we rolled it in the spiced butter-cheese mixture. Nice. Not hot spicy, but nicely spiced. The way the cheese gets in between the corn kernels was just awesome. I’ve never had Mexican style corn before. I’ll definitely have it again.

So, here’s the Buf-A-Cue Shrimp recipe. We made 8 shrimp for each of us. That was both our lunch and our dinner. It was a good serving size for us for this all day meal. Try to get the biggest shrimp you can, too. We got 21/25 per pound (the smaller the number, the bigger the shrimp). Because we didn’t have all the shrimp called for in the recipe, we had more marinade than we needed. I left the number of shrimp called for in the recipe at the higher number, but remember that you can make fewer shrimp if you need to.

Buf-A-Cue Shrimp
Adapted from Steven Raichlen
Makes about 32 pieces, serving 8 as an appetizer

For the shrimp and marinade:
24 jumbo shrimp (about 2 pounds), shelled and deveined
½ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup light olive oil or light flavored oil of your choice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

For the mop sauce:
4 tablespoons (½ stick) salted butter
Scant 1/4 cup Sriracha (Rooster Sauce), or your favorite hot sauce

Other Items Needed:
8-16 (8-inch) bamboo skewers, soaked in water 1 hour to cover, then drained. Flat skewers preferred, but if you have round ones, use two skewers per kebab so that the shrimp are easy to turn (take a look at the photo).

We only had round skewers, so we used two skewers per kebab. Use two skewers so that it's easy to turn them, otherwise, they just tend to turn on the skewer and it can be a real hassle.

For the shrimp: Rinse the shrimp under cold running water, then blot dry with paper towels.

Make the marinade: Whisk together the lemon juice, oil, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large nonreactive mixing bowl. Stir in the shrimp and let marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 30 minutes to 1 hour. (Alternatively, put shrimp and marinade in a large resealable plastic bag.)

Make the mop sauce: Just before setting up the grill, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir in the hot sauce.

Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat to high. When ready to cook, drain the marinade off the shrimp and discard the marinade. Thread three shrimp on each flat skewer or on two skewers, inserting the skewer near the head and tail ends so that the shrimp curls like the letter C.

The shrimp are marinated, skewered, and ready to go on the grill

Brush and oil the grill grate. Arrange the skewered shrimp on the hot grate so that the shrimp are over the fire. Grill the shrimp until just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Mop the shrimp with the mop sauce. When done, the shrimp will turn a pinkish white and feel firm to the touch.

Take the shrimp off of the skewers and enjoy!

The shrimp are getting their first turn after being on the grill for about 2 minutes

The mop sauce is being brushed on the shrimp

The second side is being brushed with the mop sauce

(drool drool)