An Inspired Cook

After all the sweets and decadent meals of the holiday season it’s time to tone it down and eat a little more health conscience.  But it doesn’t mean meals have to be boring or tasteless.  By marinating foods you can create many different tastes while still maintaining healthy habits.  I’ve always loved the way citrus enhances marinades.  This is a great time of year to get grapefruit so I picked up a few extra for my marinade.  I intended to juice two grapefruit but they were so juicy I found I only needed one.  I had enough for the shrimp and a little extra that I saved aside to make a salad dressing.  With a salad and some herb wedge potatoes on the side and I had a healthy tasty meal.

I tweeked a recipe from Cooking-Spree.com for a grapefruit marinade for grilled scallops, which worked perfectly for the shrimp.  I gathered together some olive oil, green onion, cilantro, vermouth, grapefruit, jalapeno and some honey.

I juiced a grapefruit and decided there was plenty juice to make my marinade.  To that I added the zest, 1 medium jalapeno, 2 tablespoons of cilantro, 2 tablespoons of green onion, 3 tablespoons of Vermouth, 2 tablespoons of honey and 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  I took a taste and decided it needed a pinch of salt.

Whisk it all together and it’s ready for the shrimp.  I did set aside about 1/2 cup to make a salad dressing.

Place about a pound of peeled and deveined shrimp into the marinade and spoon it over every piece.  Place in the fridge for at least an hour, more if you have the time. If you are using wooden skewers, make sure to soak them in water for at least 20 minutes.

Skewer your shrimp and grill over medium high heat 2 – 3 minutes on each side.  When the shrimp begin to turn pink  youknow they are ready to turn And in no time they are ready!

For the salad dressing I added a little more olive oil, a drizzle of Agave syrup, and salt and pepper to taste.  It makes a really good vinaigrette.

Grapefruit Marinated Shrimp (adapted from Cooking-Spree.com)

1 pound Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 – 2 Grapefruit, zested and juiced
1 medium Jalapeno, minced
2 tablespoons Green Onion, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh Cilantro, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons Vermouth
2 tablespoons Honey
3 tablespoons Olive Oil (I used Tasteful Olive’s Blood Orange flavored olive oil)

Salt to taste Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a bowl large enough to accommodate the shrimp.  Place the shrimp in the marinade and spoon some of the marinade over top.  Cover and refrigerate at least an hour. If using wood skewers, soak in water 20 minutes prior to grilling.

Place 4 – 5 shrimp on a skewer and grill over medium high heat for about 2 – 3 minutes on each side.  When the shrimp begin to turn pink they are done.

** Note the marinade makes a nice salad dressing.  To make it, set aside 1/2 cup of the marinade, add a little extra olive oil, a drizzle of Agave syrup and salt and pepper to taste.  Whisk together.