Mediterranean Grilled Shrimp Skewers  

My fiancé and I recently made these on the beach during a sailing trip to Sucia Island in the San Juan Islands. Before our trip, I pre-made the marinade and stored it in a small jar and portioned out enough frozen shrimp for the two of us, put the shrimp in double resealable plastic bags and put in the cooler frozen. The shrimp slowly thawed and on day three of our trip it was easy to put together the skewers. We had a lovely beach picnic with a bottle of wine, grilled garlic and fennel salt focaccia and arugula, beet, walnut and goat cheese salad.  

The marinade I used on this shrimp is becoming our favorite marinade. It can also be used as a marinade for roasted vegetables.

I put the shrimp on foil on this public grill.

Serves 4: about 9 shrimp a person

2 pounds shrimp (16-20), peeled and deveined, tail left on

Marinade:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley (if you don’t have this don’t worry, it will still be good without)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake, or more for spicier

1. Mix together marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Place shrimp in a resealable plastic bag and mix in about 2/3 of the marinade, reserving 1/3 for serving. Stir until shrimp are evenly coated with the sauce. Refrigerate 2 to 3 hours. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce.
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.
4. Thread shrimp onto skewers (pierce each twice, once through the thicker part of the shrimp, once through smaller part). Place skewers on hot grill. Cook on each side until shrimp are bright pink and opaque and exterior is beginning to caramelize, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
5. Transfer skewers to serving platter. Spoon sauce over shrimp.

Note: If you want to add a vegetable, zucchini would be the best option since it cooks the fastest. Pineapple chunks or small cherry or grape tomatoes would be good too.

To take camping or sailing, premake the marinade and put it in a glass jar. Put frozen shrimp into a large resealable plastic bag and put into the cooler frozen. The shrimp will slowly thaw and be ready to thread onto skewers.