Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Grilled Shrimp Panzanella

As I mentioned in my last post, part of my summer absence was due to a mandatory work retreat.  I am not gonna lie- I dread our work retreat every year.  And this year, it was twice as long as years previously.  However, for our team building exercise, I scheduled a cooking lesson with Chief Elliott of Elliott's on Linden.  This certainly made the whole experience much better.

The whole Elliott's compound was awesome.  There is the resturant, but also a sweet "provision" store with awesome speciaility foods and a ton of kitchen gadgets.  I was in heaven.

Chief Elliott demonstrated four dishes: grilled shrimp panzanella, a watermelon and tomato salad, grilled scallops with a pea puree and an asian steamed salmon.  All of it was beyond delicious.  As soon as I got home, with recipes in hand, I knew I had to make the shrimp panzanella for Seth.

Grilled Shrimp Panzanella
Ingredients
24 shrimp
loaf of stale bread
3 maters
2 bell peppers
2 green onions
parsley
basil
mint
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbs. capers
6 tbs. red wine vingar
8 tbs. olive oil
umami paste or mixture of tomato paste and anchovy paste

Directions
Shred your bread.  If you buy a fresh loaf, do this the day ahead of time and let it get nice and dry.  Alternatively, if you are short on time, pop your bread chunks in a 200 degree oven until they are dry.

Grill your shrimp.

Add the tomatoes, peppers, scallions and capers to the bread.

Mix together the olive oil, garlic, parsley, vinegar, salt, pepper and various pastes.  Quick note:  adding just a bit of umami paste/tomato and anchovy paste makes the most amazing difference in the dressing.  Its just makes you go mmmmmmmmmmm. 

Pour your dressing over the salad, mix in your herbs, top with your shrimp and enjoy!

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