Grilled Pesto Shrimp

Photo Courtesy of Skinnytaste.com

Amanda and I made these a few months ago (maybe a year now... doesn't matter). Last week I actually had frozen uncooked shrimp and some frozen pesto from the last time I made some so I defrosted both  for a revisit of this recipe. I decided not to do pesto on Max's, to increase the odds that he'd eat them. I was reminded as I was cooking of the downside of pesto slathered shrimp... one can no longer tell when they've turned pink (i.e. when they are done cooking). Happily, this time around I had Max's plain skewer to tell me when the shrimp were cooked. So my advice is thread one shrimp on your skewer that doesn't have pesto as a doneness gauge. I also didn't follow the recipe for the pesto, I probably threw in some spinach and pine nuts but, because the pesto isn't the focus of this dish, even store bought pesto would work great!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (weight after peeled)
• kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 7 wooden skewers

Directions:

In a food processor pulse basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil while pulsing.

Combine raw shrimp with pesto and marinate a few hours in a bowl. Soak wooden skewers in water at least 20 minutes (or use metal ones to avoid this step). Threadshrimp onto 7 skewers.  

Heat an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan over medium-low heat until hot. Be sure the grates are clean and spray lightly with oil. Place the shrimp on the hot grill and cookuntil shrimp turns pink on the bottom, about 3-4 minutes; turn and continue cooking until shrimp is opaque and cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. 

Recipe from skinnytaste.com