There’s nothing better in the summer than food that’s both light and bursting with fresh flavor. This recipe does not disappoint.
Being a big food and food-tv fan, I’ve seen every season of Top Chef known to man. One year for Christmas my sister bought me a cookbook by the first female winner of the show, Stephanie Izard. To make one of her delicious recipes, I bought some sambal (garlic chili sauce). Whether you know or not, I have a fear of using spicy ingredients because while I do like spicy food a lot, my first experience cooking with hot (as in spicy-hot) ingredients was not a good one (which you can read about here).
Being adventurous, I tried cooking with sambal anyway and boy did it pay off. I discovered a flavorful new ingredient to add to my arsenal. I fearfully followed Stephanie’s recipe and used as much sambal as she called for. Turned out that the dish was not that spicy at all! Well, maybe it was spicy, but it was at least a totally bearable spice level. I didn’t use much of the jar, so the rest of the sambal sat next to my other condiments on the door of the fridge, hanging out patiently for quite some time. Seeing it sit in there inspired this delicious concoction.
If you don’t have sambal, substitute with your favorite hot sauce!
- 1 lb shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined
- zest of 2 lemon, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons sambal (chili garlic sauce)
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- juice of 2 lemons
- ¼ cup basil, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup flat-leaf italian parsley, roughly chopped
- In a medium bowl combine shrimp, zest of 1 lemon, garlic, sambal, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add the shrimp to the skillet. Cook about 3-4 minutes until one side is browned. (A good indicator is when the tail has just turned from translucent gray to an opaque pink.) Flip shrimp and cook another 1-2 minutes just until cooked through and pink in color.
- Place shrimp onto a serving platter. Top with basil, parsley, lemon juice and remaining lemon zest.
This was delicious! Spicy, but not too spicy. I made the spicy version for my husband & I, and made a 2nd batch with out the sambal for the kids. Both were very tasty.
So glad to hear, Debbie! This is one of my personal favorites so I’m happy it was a hit in your house.