Grill | I Can Cook That

Mango Shrimp Kebabs

Earlier this week, I wrote a post reviewing Cooking Light’s new App. I have been playing around with the app for about a week and kept coming back to this Mango Shrimp Kebab recipe. The colors are amazing, and it sounded so delicious! I cut the recipe in half (makes 2 servings) but kept the original recipe mostly intact.

Ingredients:

3/4 pounds large peeled and deveined shrimp

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 mango, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 small red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

Juice and zest of 1 lime, cut into wedges

Cooking spray

Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Prepare your mango, pepper, and onion.

Thread shrimp, bell pepper, mango, and onion alternately onto 4 skewers. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and lime zest. Note: the original recipe did not include zest. But I thought it might be an easy addition to the flavors, you’re using a lime anyways!

Coat the grill with cooking spray. Place the skewers on the grill rack and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until shrimp are cooked (Mine took closer to 3-4 minutes per side, I blame my little indoor grill. If using a normal grill, 2 minutes on each side should be plenty.)

Serve with lime wedges. Squeeze the wedges over kebabs before eating.

Before I go on, I want to give special thanks to my “Sous Chef” and friend Ericka for helping me out. I am pretty darn scared of knives and cutting slippery fruit stresses me out quite a bit, so I am forever grateful to Ericka for her amazing mango-chopping skills.

We made this along with the Corn with Lime and Chipotle, also suggested by the app. And I couldn’t be happier with the results. The pairing was perfect! We actually ended up using some of the leftover chipotle butter mix on some of the shrimp, just to try it out.

shrimp with chipotle butter

Ericka thought maybe marinating the shrimp in a jerk marinade before adding to the skewers would really bump this recipe up a notch and I agree. However, the original recipe is delicious on its own, and quite simple and fast to make. Look out for my post on the Corn, these two really should be eaten together!

The ingredients were wonderful together, sweet, tangy and fresh. Ericka kept referring to getting a piece of each ingredient in one bite “the perfect bite” and I have to agree with her.

Do not forget to squeeze the lime over the skewers before enjoying. The citrus adds a whole new dimension to this already delicious dish.

Grilled Watermelon

We kind of went on a grilling spree this week. (And by “we” I mean my boyfriend and his roommate. I only did the prep work.)

We were throwing basically anything on there. Burgers, chicken, asparagus, salmon… and watermelon. So. Here’s a super simple recipe for grilled watermelon!

Ingredients:
Honey
Sliced watermelon

Spread a little bit of honey on each piece of watermelon.

Place on a grill for about 2 minutes on each side.

Or until grill marks appear on the watermelon.

It’s amazing that grilling watermelon for a few minutes completely changes the taste of the watermelon. It’s quite tasty! The sugars in the watermelon and honey caramelize, making a new taste to the fruit. Yum!

Grilled Marinated Asparagus

Tonight, I get a night off from cooking! Sort of. My boyfriend and his roommates are firing up the grill and doing the hard part, so all I have to do is make various marinades for the food. We had some asparagus lying around so I decided to just make a simple marinade to make this Grilled Marinated Asparagus.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 2 large garlic cloves)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon chopped onion flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients not including the asparagus. Mix well.

Prepare the asparagus. Remove the rough bottoms of the stems. Asparagus tends to snap where the tougher part ends, or you can just cut the asparagus where you think it needs to be trimmed.

asparagus ends

Place the asparagus on a large piece of tin foil. You will make a little packet out of the tin foil.

Fold up each side of the tin foil, twisting the ends so that they stay together.

Pour the marinade over the asparagus.

Close the foil and marinate for at least one hour. You can either remove the asparagus from the foil and place the asparagus right on the grill, cooking for 6-8 minutes, turning carefully half way through, or you can put the asparagus on the grill in the foil, cooking for about 10 minutes. Either way, grill until the asparagus is tender but still has a crunch to it.

there it is. in the tin foil

This turned out really well. The balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce add a bit of tangy-ness to the asparagus without overpowering the delicious natural flavor of asparagus. Many thanks to the grill masters:

Tim

Kevin

for not letting my asparagus get soggy. It was great to only have to do the prep work on a dish… a girl could get used to this!

Yum

Grilled Marinated Asparagus

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 bunch of asparagus
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 2 large garlic cloves)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon chopped onion flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients not including the asparagus. Mix well.
Prepare the asparagus. Remove the rough bottoms of the stems. Asparagus tends to snap where the tougher part ends, or you can just cut the asparagus where you think it needs to be trimmed.
Place the asparagus on a large piece of tin foil. You will make a little packet out of the tin foil.
Fold up each side of the tin foil, twisting the ends so that they stay together.
Pour the marinade over the asparagus.
Close the foil and marinate for at least one hour. You can either remove the asparagus from the foil and place the asparagus right on the grill, cooking for 6-8 minutes, turning carefully half way through, or you can put the asparagus on the grill in the foil, cooking for about 10 minutes. Either way, grill until the asparagus is tender but still has a crunch to it.

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Maple Soy Glazed Salmon

Are you ready for the easiest salmon recipe, perhaps ever? The name says it all: maple-soy glazed salmon. You just use equal parts maple syrup and reduced sodium soy sauce.

Ingredients:

2 pieces of 5 oz salmon fillets, skin on

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)

salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the maple syrup and soy sauce.

Top the salmon fillets with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the maple-soy mixture equally over the salmon.

I bought my salmon from a supermarket in Wilmington that inexplicably only had salmon without the skin. What the heck? Normally, I would just grill the salmon, skin side up for 2-3 minutes and then flip the salmon, skin side down and cook until done. Because we had to take into account the whole no-skin issue, we wrapped the salmon in tin foil and popped it on the grill for a good 10 to 15 minutes. (Special thanks to Kevin and Tim for doing the actual grilling part!)

It still turned out great! The sauce caramelizes a bit, adding some sweetness to the salmon. I really wish it could have been straight on the grill to add some charring but it was not to be. Sigh. If anyone gets the chance to actually try it this way, please let me know how it turns out!

Salmon Skewers with Lemon-Parsley Pesto

I have quite a bit of parsley from my CSA share. I mistakenly bought a bunch of parsley two days before also, oops. I don’t want to waste it, so I looked for a recipe that included pesto (an easy way to use a lot of parsley). Cooking Light had a great-sounding recipe for salmon skewers with lemon-parsley pesto over orzo.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/8 cup fresh basil leaves
1/8 cup capers, drained
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 smaller garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound skinless, boneless salmon fillets, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
2 cups hot cooked orzo

Preheat your grill. Boil water for the orzo and cook as directed on the package. Drain, mix with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and set aside. Combine the first 7 ingredients (up to garlic) in a food processor (I used a magic bullet).

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the mixture and process until smooth.

Not all that smooth..

Set the pesto aside. Cut the salmon into 1 inch pieces.

Thread fish evenly on two skewers. Brush fish with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Coat the grill with cooking spray. Place skewers on grill and cook for 1 minute on each side, or until desired degree of doneness.

Remove from grill and wrap loosely in foil to keep warm. Add orzo to a bowl. Place skewers on orzo and top with the pesto.

Whew. I used way too big of a piece of garlic. Definitely make sure to use one of the smaller ones; you aren’t cooking the garlic so it really retains its flavor. Past my new ability to ward of vampires, the other flavors were really nice. If you have a food processor, I’d suggest using that over a magic bullet. I wish the pesto was a bit more chopped up. I ended up mixing the pesto into the orzo, flaking the salmon, and adding a bit more lemon. Really delicious!

Grilled-Steak and Arugula Salad with Mustard Caper Vinaigrette

My parents graciously gifted me with an order of Omaha Steaks. My only issue is that I rarely make steak (chicken and veggies are my staples) so I went in search of something other than just grilled steak and potatoes. Food and Wine had a recipe that not only sounded delicious, but also included steak and one of my CSA ingredients of the week: arugula. Double win.

Tell me you don’t want to eat that.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak, about 1 inch thick

6 tablespoons olive oil

Salt

Fresh-ground black pepper

2 generous handfuls of arugula, leaves washed and torn in half

1 container of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon red- or white-wine vinegar (I used red)

2 tablespoons drained capers

If you have an outdoor grill, light the grill before prepping your ingredients to allow it time to heat up. I used my nifty little indoor grill. You could also use the broiler in your oven. Coat the steak with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season the steak with salt and pepper.

Add the steak to the grill or to the broiler and cook for 5 minutes.

Flip the steak and cook for another 5 minutes for medium rare (adjust to your taste). Transfer the steak to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes.

Cut the tomatoes in half. I ended up using the whole plastic container (I really like tomatoes).

Place the arugula on two individual plates. Top the arugula with the cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with some salt.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, capers and season with salt and pepper.

This looks disgusting. I swear it tastes good!

Add the remaining 5 tablespoons of oil slowly, whisking to combine.

Still a horrific photo. I apologize.

After the steak has had time to rest, slice the steak on the diagonal.

Place the steak on top of the salad.

Fancy.

Drizzle with vinaigrette.

What a tasty dish. The original recipe called for anchovy paste for the vinaigrette but I didn’t have any so I omitted it. I honestly don’t think it’s necessary; there was enough salt and tangy-ness from the capers. Spinach can be used instead of arugula, but I think the spiciness of arugula goes really well with this dish. The steak on its own was simple and tasty, and with the vinaigrette it was absolutely fantastic. I will most certainly make this recipe again!

Shish Kabobs with Rice

This weekend I was given quite the culinary challenge: make a meal for ten people without breaking the bank. I would be feeding everyone at the beach, so my mind immediately went to Shish Kabobs with Rice (I want summer and barbecues to be here so badly!). This is a great option for vegetarians as well, always a plus.

Living in the city does not mean you can’t enjoy this recipe. If you have a little indoor grill, that will work just fine. Due to the poor weather we had this weekend, we actually ended up broiling the shish kabobs in the oven, which worked just fine.

Ingredients (serves 10):

3 pints cherry tomatoes
1 bag of pearl onions, peeled (quick tip below)
2 green bell peppers
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
2 8 oz packages of whole mushrooms (I used cremini)
1 large zucchini
2 large summer squash
5 lbs top sirloin steak, cut into cubes
10 cups chicken stock (ideally, use vegetable stock to keep veggies truly vegetarian)
5 cups rice

Ingredients for marinade:

1 tablespoon salt
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 heaping tablespoon of the following dried spices: thyme, basil, oregano, marjoram
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 2/3 cup red wine (an inexpensive table wine is fine)
5 bay leaves
1 large onion, thinly sliced
6-8 drops tabasco sauce

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