Grilled Chili Lime Shrimp Tacos

We love grilled shrimp around here.  We also love fresh, homemade salsa.  So, one lazy Sunday we decided to combine the two into a grilled taco.

First, we prepared a batch of our our now locally famous and frequently requested Fresh Homemade Salsa:

Ingredients:

4 Cups Roma Tomatoes, Diced
¼ Cup Sweet Onion, Diced
2 Jalapeno Peppers, Seeded and diced fine
3 Cloves Garlic , Minced 
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Dried Parsley
1 tsp Cumin
½ tsp Kosher Or Sea Salt
1 Lime, Juiced

While the flavors in the salsa were mingling, I made a batch of Chile Lime marinade:

2 tsp of Stubbs Chili Lime Rub
Juice of one lime
Enough olive oil to make mobile

Then, I peeled, deveined, and cleaned some fresh 21/25 count shrimp.  Once complete, I placed in the marinade for one hour.  After the marinade time, I skewered the shrimp for the grill.

The shrimp were placed over hot coals for 1 1/2 minutes a side.  Once the cooking was complete, I placed the shrimp on the upper rack, away from the heat to keep them warm.

I then took some taco sized flour tortillas and grilled to slightly crisp on both sides.

Then, the assembly begins.  On each tortilla, I placed four of the grilled shrimp, followed by salsa, then a sprinkling of grated queso blanco.

These shrimp tacos were outstanding.  The shrimp was perfectly cooked with the grill taste adding a nice component to the over all flavor.  The salsa was fresh, adding a nice heat and slight tang to the overall dish.  The queso blanco added a creamy component that you would expect from a Mexican cheese.  These tacos were outstanding.  We will be making these again for sure.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Hudson Valley Ribfest 2013. NEBS Competition

As always at Hudson Valley, Saturday is NEBS competition day.  Categories this year were the usual two traditional for Hudson Valley, pizza and apple dessert.  In addition, the other two categories were Wrapped in Bacon and Shrimp.  Lets move on to the scores and entries.

Here are our scores for this years contest:

As you can see, a mixed bag of results.

As we posted on here before, we came up with a really nice Chicken Fajita Pizza.  So, we decided to enter this pie in the competition this year.

Being made.

Final result.

The above entry was good for a 143.3828 and 22nd out of 26 teams.  I guess people in the Hudson Valley don't like Mexican flavors.  One of the veteran teams said that you cannot go too far out of the box.  They need a baseline for comparison.  Maybe the enchilada sauce was asking too much.  So, this pizza is retired as an entry in competition.

Next up was Wrapped in Bacon.  We decided to use the Country Ribs, Wrapped in Bacon recipe that we posted on the blog a few weeks ago.  Here were the results.

Is that bacon garnish you ask?  Yes it is.  At the last minute, we decided to ditch the lettuce and take advantage of the open garnish rule in NEBS.  Hope put together a bacon weave and we cooked it on the smoker.  Here is the weave on its own.

Truthfully, I was apprehensive.  I was afraid it would crumble after cooking.  But, Hope came through and we scored well in appearance with 5 9's and an 8.  Plus, it was edible!  The above box scored a 166.8344, good for 7th out of 26.

Next up was apple dessert, our past nemesis.  This year, we went with an apple blond brownie.  Here is the recipe we found.  Here are the results.

The brownies were dense and moist.  The light dollop of cream cheese frosting was perfect along with the fried apple slices.  We have finally found an apple dessert that will work in a competition.  All we need to do is work on a dessert garnish.  Any ideas folks?  The above box was good for a 165.7028 and 9th out of 26.  Kudos go to Sandy with All Fired Up and Kicking Ash who took third with a Butterscotch Apple Cheesecake that was to die for.

Last up was grilled shrimp.  We decided to enter a nice grilled shrimp taco.

We prepared a chili lime marinade for the shrimp and grilled for two minutes a side.  Tortillas were grilled to a light crispiness.  Shrimp was layered with grated queso blanco and fresh salsa.  Unfortunately, we finished DAL with these.  We scored a 141.0628, good for 26th out of 26th.  Some of it was taste, some of it was that we think the salsa started to make the tortilla soggy while sitting in the box.  Lesson learned.  Our neighbor team, Ribs Within, entered an outstanding grilled shrimp presented in a shot glass with a horseradish Bloody Mary shot.  I loved it, but as stated before, it was a bit to outside the box.

Overall, we scored a 616.9828, good for 20th out of 26.  Some good, some bad.  We learned and will move on for future contests.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Grilled Shrimp, BBQ Guam Style

Now, it is pretty obvious that I love American Style BBQ.  But, I do get tired of the stuff.  So, I am always looking for other flavors to try out at home on the smoker or grill.  If you are looking for those different flavors, you need to go visit Rueben over at BBQ Guam.  Rueben has all of those flavors going on that are not what we see here in the US.  If you haven't visited his site, you need to get over there and give it a look.  You will not be disappointed.

Now, on to the recipe...

Grilled Ouzo Shrimp

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil1/2 cup ouzo (Greek liqueur) or anise liqueur
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (got to be fresh)
1/4 cup minced garlic
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
2 lb. jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
Grape tomatoes

I can't stand Ouzo, so I made some modifications:

Substituted 1/2 cup of Mirin for the Ouzo

Instead of the red pepper flakes, I used 2 tsp of siriracha sauce

Everything else is the same...

I did marinade the whole 6 hours...

I threw some bacon wrapped asparagus on the side.  No oil, just throw on the grill as is.  When the bacon gets crispy on one side, flip.  When that side gets crispy, put on indirect heat and serve when the rest is ready.  Good stuff...

Even threw on a cheap $5 lobster tail that was part of the seafood sale...

This shrimp was everything Rueben advertised and more.  4  thumbs up from me and the wife.  The grape tomatoes compliment the garlicy flavor of the shrimp.  The lemon juice with a slight hint of thyme bring the honey and mirin together.  They tasted even better for lunch the next day.

Ruben, this one is a winner.  We will be doing this again for sure...

Thanks,

Bill