This time last week, I was packing my bag to go to the beach for a long weekend with my love. It was an amazing trip, and I have a serious case of beach fever after returning from those sunny, relaxing days away.
I also have a lingering obsession with all things seafood.
On the last afternoon at the beach, we ate at a local hangout famous for their shrimp. They make it every way you can imagine (cue the Forrest Gump movie sequence!). They have it grilled and blackened, deep-fried, butterflied, in gumbo, on a po’boy and probably several other ways I’m forgetting.
For an appetizer, we ordered Shrimp Kisses, little bites of deep-fried shrimp stuffed with cheese and jalapeños and wrapped tightly with bacon.
I’m going to try to recreate them at home this weekend.
This recipe calls for feta cheese, which I think will hold up better in the deep-fryer than the Monterey Jack used in the recipe at the restaurant. I mean, I love gooey cheese as much as the next person, but I don’t want all my cheese to ooze out before I can get it into my mouth. I’m pretty protective of my cheese that way.
Plus, these are grilled instead of deep-fried. That’s got to be a little healthier, right?
Bacon is on sale this week at Brookshire’s, so I’m going to take advantage and make a huge batch.
Shrimp Kisses
Serves 4
Ingredients:
20 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
3 large jalapeño peppers, seeded and cut into slivers
10 slices bacon, cut in half
20 toothpicks, soaked in water
Directions:
Preheat an outdoor grill to medium-low heat, and lightly oil the grate.
Use a sharp paring knife to cut down the backs of the shrimp nearly all the way through, so you can spread apart the two halves. Open up the shrimp and lay them out onto your work surface. Spoon some crumbled feta cheese onto each shrimp, then top with slivers of jalapeño pepper. Close up the shrimp. Wrap each with a strip of bacon; secure with a toothpick.
Cook on the preheated grill until the bacon has begun to crisp and the shrimp is no longer translucent in the center, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Nutritional Information: Calories Per Serving: 257, Fat: 18.2 g, Cholesterol: 129 mg, Sodium: 990 mg, Carbohydrates: 2.2 g, Fiber: 0.3 g, Protein: 21.4 g
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