Throw some shrimp on the grill, mix up a summer’s-comin’-in-hot side, sip a melon mescal margarita and hope that the world will right itself in time.
Keep it light this weekend, keep it spicy, keep it tangy and tart with a sweet slice of juicy melon ripe enough to drip down your chin.
Keep it anything but heavy, no need to pretend happy, just keep it real, focus on the flavor, figure out the future any way but not today.
Keep that seat at the table open and ready for that Veteran who maybe wants a taste of home but wasn’t able to make it in time to dine…
To all who have served: Thank you for our freedom. You are heroes. We are grateful and we honor and remember those lost and living who have protected our country.
Ingredients
- Lemongrass Marinade:
- 2 Garlic cloves chopped
- 1 Serrano or 2 thai chiles, thinly sliced
- 2 stalks of fresh lemongrass, bottom third only, thinly sliced (whack hard first to bruise with the back of a chef’s knife)
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons Red Boat Fish Sauce (my fav)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil (more if needed)
- Sea salt to taste
- A few tablespoons water to get the mixture whirring in the blender
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
- 1.5 pounds large shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 1 Ripe Melon Sliced (or use a combination of melons for a color pop!)
- 1 small jicama, sliced, keep in water in the fridge until ready to serve
- Herbs to garnish: cilantro, mint, thai basil, keffir lime leaves
- Rice noodles, cooked and cooled
In a Vitaprep, combine the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, salt and olive oil and blend until smooth. If needed use a few tablespoons of water to get the emulsion going.
Coat the shrimp with 1/4-1/3 cup of the marinade and mix in the Sriracha too, let sit for 15 minutes. Thread the shrimp onto skewers (soak beforehand if using wood skewers) and cook over a hot fire for about 2 minutes per side.
Strain the remaining marinade not used for the shrimp to pour over the rice noodles and melon salad at the end. Set aside until plating.
Slice and arrange on a plate: ripe melon (I used Galia and Honeydew), jicama and cucumber. Dot salad with fresh herb leaves: thai basil, mojito mint and cilantro. Chiffonade Keffir lime leaves — they are aromatic and edible too!— and sprinkle over fruit salad.
Cook rice noodles according to directions, rinse in cold water and reserve.
Plate noodles next to fruit salad with a long shrimp skewer and drizzle remaining strained dressing over top!
