Thai Grilled Shrimp Salad

This salad is a righteous incredible summer treat.  Pair it with a crisp Pinot Gris and you are in heaven.  Did I throw enough superlatives at it for ya?  I hope so as I really wanted to drive home how good it is as a meal.

Make your life easy here...remember to zest your lime first then juice it. Going the other way you'll get owwie fingers and lose most of the zest.

Thai Grilled Shrimp Salad
4 servings

• 2 lbs shelled and deveined 16-20 count xlarge shrimp
• Juice of 2 limes
• zest of one lime
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 T red pepper flakes
• 1 T toasted sesame oil
• 1 t fish sauce
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1/3 C rice wine vinegar
• 2/3 C neutral oil like canola
• 3/4 C fresh mint leaves
• 3/4 C fresh cilantro leaves
• 8 C mixed greens (I use a spring mix)

Combine zest, pepper flakes, lime juice, garlic, sesame oil, fish sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, oils and 1/4 C each mint and cilantro leaves in a food processor.  Pulse several times until herbs and garlic are finely minced.  Reserve scant 1/2 cup of this for dressing the salad greens.

Skewer shrimp and place in a large glass baking dish.  Pour remaining dressing over the shrimp and toss to marinate.  Marinate 1 hour. 
Remove from marinade.  Shake off excess. Grill over hot grill 2-3 minutes per side until pink but still tender.

Toss mixed greens with remaining half cup of mint and cilantro leaves.  Toss with dressing and divide among 4 serving bowls.  Deskewer the shrimp and divide among the 4 bowls of greens.

Pepperoni Roll Crostini

The idea for this isn't entirely mine.  I got the idea from a recent episode of The Chew.  The final execution and twist with slivers of Sun dried Tomato is pure fraz.

To make life easier I grabbed pre-made garlic and herb pizza dough from Fresh and Easy Markets.  Its so much more convenient than making your own from scratch when you don't have hours to devote to rising and punching down and rising.

Pepperoni Roll Crostini

• 2 1 lb boules pizza dough
• 1 6 oz package sliced pepperoni
• 1/2 c shredded Parmesan
• 12 Oz room temperature cream cheese
• 1/2 c chiffonade fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 c thinly sliced sun dried tomato
• Coarse sea salt
• olive oil
• corn meal

Lightly grease a baking sheet and scatter a couple of table spoons corn meal onto it.  Set aside.

Allow pizza dough to come to room temperature for easier handling.  Flour a large bread board.  Roll each boule into a 1/4" thick 12X18" rectangle.

Scatter half of the pepperoni over one of the rectangles.  Sprinkle on half of the shredded Parmesan. 

Take second rectangle and place on top of the rectangle with meet and cheese.  Repeat scattering of pepperoni and cheese.  

From long side of the rectangle begin to roll it up jelly roll style.  Place seam side down on baking sheet.  Cover with tea towel and let rise until double in size, about 1-1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375F  Just before baking brush with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.   Bake for 35-40 minutes until deep golden brown.  Cool on wire wrack until room temperature

Slice into 1/4 thick rounds.  Spread softened cream cheese evenly over all the rounds.  Sprinkle chiffonade of basil over all the rounds.  Place sun dried tomato on half of the finished rounds.

2nd layer of dough over the first ready to roll up jelly roll style

Pepperoni roll on the prepared baking sheet ready for to rise until double

Pepperoni Roll sliced into rounds ready for the cream cheese, basil and sun dried tomato layer