radicchio

Grab your tongs and get your grill on!

I’ve been grilling and putting beer in everything I can get my hands on lately.  There is no beer in this post, but stay tuned – there are some beer dishes and brewing posts coming very soon.  For now, how ’bout we just grill up a salad.

I’ve been totally obsessed with mangoes lately too.  Which is weird – I have never been a big fan of the mango.  I didn’t grill them, but I did add one to the salad and tossed another one in the blender to make not one, but two salad dressings.

Yeah – a hers and his because that’s the way we roll around here – some of us like it spicy and some of us are weenies.

I’ll leave it to you to figure out who is who.

Happy weekend, Y’all!

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Grilled Radicchio and Romaine Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Mango Dressing

Ingredients

For the Shrimp and Marinade

• 1 lemon both juice and zest
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic minced, grated, or pressed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon DIjon mustard
• 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp

For the Dressing

• 1 mango peeled, pitted, and roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced, grated, or pressed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lemon juiced
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 red chili pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the Salad

• 1 head radicchio cut into quarters or eighths - depending how big
• 8-10 asparagus stalks
• 1 head romaine halved or a package of romaine pre-washed and separated
• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 mango peeled, pitted, and cubed
• 1 avocado peeled, pitted, and sliced

Instructions

For the Shrimp and Marinade

1. Combine all marinade ingredients in a zip top bag
2. Add shrimp, seal, and refrigerate for 1 hour

For the Dressing

1. Combine all ingredients except the water in a blender and blend until smooth
2. Use water to thin 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches your desired consistency
3. I removed about half the dressing into a Mason jar then threw the chili pepper into the blender with the remaining dressing and blended until somewhat smooth

For the Salad

1. Heat grill or grill pan on high, lightly coat with cooking spray
2. Toss radicchio, asparagus, and romaine in olive oil and salt to taste
3. Add radicchio and asparagus to hot grill or grill pan and grill for 3-4 minutes, depending on size, turning radicchio 1-2 times and asparagus every minute or so
4. Remove from grill to a platter and tent with foil
5. Remove shrimp from marinade into a bowl, discard marinade
6. Add shrimp to grill or grill pan, cook in 2 -3 batches if you don't have enough room to do all at once (I did 2 batches) about 2 minutes on one side and flip, cook another minute or so, depending on size - remove slightly before they are done and put on plate and lightly cover with foil tent, repeat with the rest of the shrimp
7. Grill romaine - a couple of minutes if using a whole head split in half, about 1 minute for single leaves
8. Add romaine and asparagus to the platter with the radicchio, arrange avocado and mango on same platter and toss shrimp and any juices from the plate over the top
9. Serve with dressing

Notes:

• Here is the deal on the divided dressing – I do not like spicy food, but for Chris – the hotter the better!.   I usually end up dividing things up and adding a bunch of spice to one and leaving the other without.  That’s what I did here.  I split up the dressing and added a chili pepper for Chris.  I seeded it and he said he would have like more heat, so use your own judgment.
• You can also add more dried cayenne pepper to the shrimp marinade.  I could taste it and Chris could not, so it really depends on your tolerance.  For a scale – I have none and Chris is off the charts spicy man.

Update:  For some reason I must have lost my mind and in the recipe had only 2 tablespoons of olive oil. It now reads 1/4 cup and depending on your taste could be 1/3.  Also, salt and pepper to your preferences.