Foodstuff: Sweet and savory

It’s been too hot to cook. I spend most of my days strategically working on my laptop, wandering around my house and moving from room to room with the shades drawn and a box fan pointed directly at my face. I feel like I said the same thing in a food column a few weeks ago, but it bears repeating. I’m feeling hot, hot, hot — and not in the fun, Buster Poindexter way. 

To that end, I’m mostly sticking to meals consisting of charcuterie plates or vittles I can throw on the grill. I recently dug up an oldie but a goodie from my culinary repertoire, an Italian spin on barbecued shrimp courtesy of my girl, Giada De Laurentiis, which now lives on her Giadzy website. The marinade creates a beautifully sweet and savory, almost blackened coating on the crustaceans, and as long as you give yourself some pre-cook marinating time on the protein, this is truly a meal that comes together in minutes. The recipe also uses a lot of spices you may already have in your pantry, so you can avoid driving in a steaming car to the grocery store for one more week.  

Side note: It would be very easy to double or triple, so if you want to feed a crowd for a summer celebration patio party, go to town. Just make sure everyone brings their own miniature fan on a lanyard, I have zero chill to spare. 

Italian BBQ Shrimp

Serves four

• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt 
• 1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika 
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground fennel seed 
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 pound large shrimp (peeled and deveined) 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 

In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, salt, paprika, oregano, fennel seed and black pepper. Add the shrimp, and toss to coat well. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour.*  

Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium heat. Toss the marinated shrimp with the olive oil, and place on the heated grill pan. Grill for about three minutes on each side or until browned and opaque all the way through. Serve warm or at room temperature.  

Cook’s notes

*The recipe calls for about an hour of marinating time, but, in a pinch, I’ve done it in about 20 minutes and didn’t sacrifice a tremendous amount of flavor. I wouldn’t go any less than 20, though. 

In addition to cooking the shrimp for this summer feast, I grilled asparagus (just trim a bunch, and toss it in olive oil, salt and pepper before adding to a grill on medium-high for about 10 minutes) and cooked a pot of polenta with parmesan cheese (follow the package directions, I like Bob’s Red Mill brand).  

Served with an ice-cold glass of white wine, this made an elegant, easy, super-fast and delicious dinner, perfect for dining al fresco when your kitchen temperatures match those of the seventh circle of hell. 

Katherine Roberts is a mid-Valley based writer and marketing professional who hopes all of her rain dances are paying off by the time she filed this column. She can be reached via her marketing and communications firm, Carington Creative, at katherine@caringtoncreative.com.