East Meets West Shrimp

I must admit, I've been a pretty awful non-practicing Catholic this Lenten season. I didn't give anything up. I've eaten meat on practically every Friday. But seriously... that's exactly why I'm non-practicing. Too many rules. To many things to abide by. Do this. Don't do that. What does it all matter? Why does there have to be a certain "holiday" or time for us to give something up or eat something else. Why can't we just do what we want to do... within legal parameters, of course. I've never been one that's been a fan of being told what to do and when to do it... so it's no surprise that I fall into this anti-Lent category. But for those of you who do celebrate, and want a good seafood/meat-less dish for the last Friday of lent, these shrimps were pretty much awesome.

Ingredients:
(Stuffed Peppers adapted from Food & Wine's March 2010 issue "Shrimp-Stuffed Peppers")

about 20 Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on.
salt and fresh pepper
2/3 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1/3 cup cotija cheese, grated/shredded
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 small handful chopped cilantro
6 Cubanelle peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Fresh salsa
Mango-Teriyaki marinade

For the West part, we're going to do marinated shrimp skewers. Take about 14 of the shrimp and marinate them in your marinade of choice. It'd help if it's Asian themed, to fit with the West-ness, so I found a great marinade bottle at Whole Foods of Mango-Teriyaki. Let marinate for about an hour.

For the East part, we're gonna make some shrimp-stuffed peppers. Heat your grill under medium heat.

Cut a slit down the Cubanelle peppers, length-wise, but not all the way through. Then cut a horizontal slit on each of the ends of the length-wise slit. Kind of like a really wide letter H. Place the peppers on the grill and get a nice char on them, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from grill and let cool until you can handle them.

Meanwhile, mix the cheeses, cilantro, and scallion in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Season the insides of the cooled peppers with a little salt and pepper and stuff with cheese mixture.

In a large skillet, add oil and heat under medium high heat. Add garlic and remaining shrimp. Cook until shrimp start to curl and turn pink, about 2-4 minutes. Stuff the shrimp in the peppers along with the cheese, letting the tails stick out.

Heat the peppers on the grill for about 5-10 minutes, or until cheese mixture is melted.

To finish the marinated shrimp, place 3-4 shrimp onto bamboo skewers and grill for about 3-5 minutes on each side.

Top the stuffed peppers with fresh salsa and lightly top marinated shrimp with Sriracha, if desired!

This was great. I think the two different ways of doing the shrimp really complimented eachother. It was the first time this year we got to use our grill and that is always a sure sign of better weather, and better/great food to come! Enjoy!