An Open Letter to Shrimp:

Dear Shrimp,

Where have you been all my life, and why hasn't anyone forced me to try you sooner?? Yes, what you see above is some Grilled Shrimp on top of a pile of Roasted Vegetables. After 20 years of hating the smell of shrimp in a frying pan or cringing at the sight of those little question mark bodies curled over the edge of a cocktail glass, I can now say I am a shrimp fan.

Now, allow me to explain this endeavor. We are now on the chapter of Everyday Entrees, with the first section being "Everyday Grills and Sautes." The first recipe is Grilled Jumbo Shrimp. I had every intention of following this recipe completely seeing as it's shrimp, olive oil, salt, and a grill, but me being me, I had to vary quite a few elements. Most of them unintentionally.

It all started on Labor Day. Leslie was so kind as to give me a lift to Aldi so I could buy my frozen shrimp for today's recipe. Well, Aldi is not open on Labor Day (we still had classes on this holiday so we were outraged to see anyone else taking a day off) so we headed down to Hannaford. Leslie was pressed for time so I quickly ran to the freezer to pick out the shrimp. I didn't feel like spending much on the jumbo shrimp, and then my eyes met the tiny little package for a mere $2.99. Without examining the package I grabbed it, checked out, and went on my merry way. Fast forward to this morning. For once, I defrosted my food by placing it in the fridge before heading off to class. I looked at the package and realized that I had bought salad shrimp (hence their tiny size) and that they were already shelled and deveined...and cooked. Fantastic, right?

I called my mom to make sure I could still at least heat these over the grill. She assured me that I could, it just wouldn't be the same as grilling some raw shrimp. I figured I could deal with that.

Moving on, I knew I couldn't eat just shrimp for dinner (especially if I ended up not liking it. We wouldn't want another tuna incident). So I decided to roast up some veggies on the side. Note to self: if you're going to cook, pay attention to what you're doing and HOW MUCH you're making. I was talking with the various people that were in my room as I chopped the veggies before heading up to the oven. In the process, since I wasn't paying attention to how much food was in the bowl, I chopped an entire onion, and entire zucchini, and an entire eggplant. I looked down finally and noticed how full my bowl was, and then figured I was hungry enough to eat it all and that veggies in mass quantities are guilt-free.

As the veggies roasted, I talked to my dad on the phone as I do every night. I realized that everything was piled on top of each other on the tray, but figured it would be OK and that it would still roast just fine. Well, it did roast, but not nearly as much as I had hoped (and this is after my father and I went through all 500 songs on his iPod and I guessed all the artists. Did I mention I lead an extremely exciting life?). I got over it and brought everything downstairs to start the shrimp.

I thought the veggies would stay nice and warm on the screaming hot tray as I cooked the shrimp (they were tiny so I knew it wouldn't take long) and didn't think to maybe cover them with tin foil or anything. Great thinking. My veggies were a bit cold once I started eating them. Anyhow, I put the shrimp into a bowl with two tablespoons of olive oil and then, for a little kick, added some chili powder. I mixed it all up and put them on the now hot George Foreman Grill.

A note on Foreman grills: Remember when these things first came out and Mr. Foreman urged you to try his "Lean, Mean, FAT GRILLIN' MACHINE!" Well, the machine doesn't actually "grill" the fat off of anything. Instead, the bottom tray is slanted downward so all the excess oil and grease just trickles right off. This would explain why a drip tray is included with the grill. I didn't think I needed that...until I covered the counter in olive oil. Nice. Lesson learned: if something comes with attachments, there's probably a logical explanation and function for them.

The shrimp didn't take long to cook (or should I say heat through) and I placed them on top of my now cold veggies once they were done. I sat down, didn't think twice about what I was about to do, and ate a shrimp. I will say, my fears of its consistency were not far-fetched, but the consistency was nothing worse than eating clams (and a lot less chewy). I'm sure if I had grilled RAW shrimp rather than already cooked shrimp, it wouldn't have been as tough. Long story short (is it too late for that?), I liked it a lot. I'm not sure I could handle cold shrimp, but I'm now willing to dive head-first into this unexplored world of shellfish.

As I've said before, success is so delicious :) My next cooking day is Sunday when I take on Everyday Contorni and some Stuffed Mushrooms (one of my favorites!)! Keep your eyes out for a possible update tomorrow. It's our first home game which means some delicious food at our tailgate!!