McCormick Grilled Lemon Pepper Herb Shrimp Party

 

Shrimp with McCormick Lemon Pepper Herb Seasoning

It’s rained here almost all summer, so since we had a sunny day, we decided to have a barbecue party. After looking through the McCormick Grillerhood recipes, the Grilled Lemon Pepper Herb Shrimp Kabobs caught my eye.

Everyone in the family loves shrimp, and we don’t get it very often as we’re not real close the coast. My son went into town and was able to find a couple of pounds.

The boys and I also picked fresh garden vegetables. We had green peppers, squash, and red beans ready. The recipe calls for a mix of vegetables. We enjoyed our combination, but I’m sure there are loads of combos that would be great with the shrimp.

This recipe is super easy. All we had to do was marinate the shrimp and vegetables with some olive oil and McCormick Grill Mates Lemon Pepper with Herbs. We just loaded up a zip lock bag and shook to coat the vegetables and shrimp.  Super simple.

 

Grill Wok is Quicker and Easier for a Party

I used a small gas grill tonight and added some pecan wood chips in an aluminum foil cup. You just make your own little cup to hold the wood chips and add some extra smoke flavor to the grilled food. That was placed under the edge of the grill wok. Using wood chips for flavor is just one of the many great tips from the McCormick Flavor Forecast.
 

 

Flavor Up Your Food with Tips from McCormick - Adding Wood Chips Adds Flavor

This is actually a kabob recipe, but I find it so much easier to use a grill wok for a party that I did my shrimp in my wok. You get the same flavor. It’s just quicker and easier if you’re grilling for several people.

The shrimp and vegetables came out just right. I did stir a few times to make sure everything was grilled evenly. The end result was shrimp and veggies with some tasty crusting from the lemon pepper and herbs.

 

Set Up and Ready for a McCormick Barbecue Party

We set up for the party. In addition to the McCormick shrimp dish, I made a pot of rice as a bed for the shrimp/vegetables and cut up fresh British melon from our garden and peaches from a local stand. Sweet potato rolls rounded out the meal.

 

Main Dish - McCormick Shrimp with Vegetables from My Garden

The shrimp recipe made quite a statement served in a colorful dish, and everyone was hurrying to get the drinks poured so that the McCormick party could start.
 

 

Time to Dig In as We All Enjoy the Grillerhood

As you can see, I did not have to ring a dinner bell to get the crowd out to the picnic table. Everyone was looking forward to digging in.

The shrimp and vegetables were awesome. The McCormick Lemon Pepper with Herbs was perfect with shrimp. It’s hard to beat some lemon flavor with seafood. The pepper gave it a little extra zip, and the subtle herbs just brought it all together.

We pretty well cleaned the table out. There was a little rice left over that a certain puppy was thrilled to get as a treat.

If you’ve not tried out Grill Mates by McCormick, they have some really awesome flavors to spice up your grilling. It’s also helpful to have the McCormick Grill Mates Facebook page which features a ton of delicious recipes and has search functions to find just what you have on your mind when the grilling urge hits you.

 

*Please note that I’m a paid ambassador for McCormick this summer and that I got some seasonings for free (but purchased the McCormick Lemon Pepper Herb out of pocket). As always I do give my honest thoughts and opinions.

 

Grilled Shrimp in a Grill Wok - Super Easy Grilling Recipe

We had grilled shrimp again tonight, and YES we had shrimp wok grilled last week as well. I've had a sinus and double ear infections, and frankly the guys are lucky they are getting food at all around here. I feel dreadful.

Shrimp in the grill wok is super simple though and easier than going and picking up something to eat. No. We do not have delivery out here in the country. Sigh that.

I did decide to fancy things up a bit with our grilled shrimp, since this is two weeks in a row. So, I used Melanie Yunk's Big Acres Teriyaki & Ginger marinade on this batch of vegetables and shrimp.



Melanie's marinade gave the grilled shrimp and veggies a richer and fuller flavor without adding any extra work on my end. Her Big Acres gourmet marinades and sauces are top notch, and I recommend them and also note that her collection that you see above is a real cool gift for friends or family who are foodies or ones who just don't know what they are missing.


How to Grill Shrimp in a Grill Wok

1. First I fire up the grill. This can be a charcoal, gas or electric grill. I used a gas grill tonight. The temperature should be fairly hot - around 375 degrees F or close.

2. I spray the grill wok with non-stick spray to make clean up easier. Tonight, I used Weber's grill non-stick spray. I think it's new. I've not seen it until lately here, and it works great. Then I let the grill wok heat a bit.

3. I have my vegetables in marinade. In this case, it was Melanie's Gourmet Teriyaki and Ginger. I also use Kraft Zesty Italian or I use olive oil and add my own seasonings.

4. I put my vegetables in the grill wok for about 5 minutes to give them a little head start, unless my shrimp are large. Mostly, around here, the shrimp sold are medium.

5. Once the vegetables grill for a few minutes, I add the shrimp to the grill wok.

6. I stir now and then and watch the color. My grilled shrimp took about 10 minutes, but that can vary on the heat and size of the shrimp. The main thing is to get the shrimp the pretty orange cooked color. That means they are done. And, if you keep cooking them, they get rubbery. Just watch the color. That's the key. When they look done, they are done.

Well, that was my quick and easy grilled dinner tonight. It took 15 minutes total on the grilling (not including the heating times). We ate the food like a Low Country Boil - just picked up shrimp and veggies (green peppers and mushrooms) and had lots of paper towels. This same meal can be served over a rice bed for a more upscale meal, but I did not feel like doing rice tonight.

I did boil some corn on the cob and made some canned biscuits to go with our wok grilled shrimp. Again - going easy on the dinner when not feeling great.

There were sure no complaints. The guys grabbed plates of the wok grilled shrimp and vegetables and watched the ballgame on TV. They did the dishes too, so I call this a really good dinner night and sure super easy.

Barbecue Grilled Wok Shrimp with Vegetables

I was not planning on grilling shrimp tonight, but when I stopped by Harris Teeter, they had a sale on shrimp. I could not resist. I walked a few isles and then there I was at the seafood counter buying shrimp to grill - of course.



Sometimes I bacon wrap and kabob grilled shrimp, but after a long week at work, I thought I'd go with vegetables and shrimp in the grill wok. Really now, it does not get much easier.

I did marinate the shrimp and vegetables separate, because these were medium shrimp - about 2 inches heads off. So, I knew the veggies would need a little more grill time.

For both the shrimp and the vegetables (green peppers and mushrooms), I used the olive oil my son brought back from Europe on his summer trip. On the shrimp, I used Garlic Gold nuggets for flavor. On the veggies, I went with Cajun Cowboy grilling seasoning. You could, of course, do many combinations or use the same marinade on all the foods.



With the smaller shrimp, I let the whole mini mushrooms and green peppers grill a bit - around 5 minutes. Then I added the shrimp. At this size, they'd go around 5 minutes. But, the lid would not quite fit over the grill wok with the City Grill tailgater. Close. But no cigar, so it ran more around 10 minutes. The key is to have the shrimp the pretty orange color you see - no grey which means they are not done.

Don't over cook seafood though, or it's tough and rubbery and just not good. Watch close. Seafood grills real fast. Don't get caught up in the ballgame and forget, or you have a pretty gross dinner to serve.



Here you can see what the grilled shrimp look like when they are ready. I did have the barbecue grill wok filled pretty full, so I did stir a couple of times. You can also use grill gloves and just shake the grill wok.

When I took the grill wok off, I put it on a cookie sheet. Wok grilled meals can be a little drippy. I carried the wok inside on the cookie sheet and then poured the grilled foods into my bowl here which I got in Greece when I lived there.

Everyone went wild for the grilled shrimp meal tonight, although my son still is not going to go for the green peppers. That's OK. More for me.



I heated my grilled meal up with @SweetLifeSauce (Twitter name there) or just visit the Sweet Life Sauce page online where they have a lot of cool barbecue and kitchen flavor products. They sent me some samples to see what I thought.

I did not add BooDream's Cajun Rocket Fuel hot sauce to the marinade, because my younger son does not like hot foods. Also, I was not sure just how hot this sauce might be. I take it easy the first time, so I do not end up with food too hot for the family to eat (though all the rest of us are hot food fans).

The Cajun Rocket Fuel went on the side of my plate, and I dipped my grilled shrimp and veggies. Yes. This is hot sauce. It's around the heat level of Texas Pete but not as big on the bitter kick. I found it quite hot but pleasant. But, I would not splash it on liberally. It is, after all, called Rocket Fuel. Yaroom! I say thumbs up, but if you do not like heat, get you some ketchup or something, because this is hot stuff.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp on the Barbecue Grill

Fresh Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon on the Grill

One of the best parts about our vacation to Cedar Island, NC (behind the outer banks - North Carolina) was the fresh seafood. We were less than a mile from Quality Seafood and could see the shrimp boats come in. Then, we'd go down and buy shrimp right as it came in. This was just a mile or less down the road. Doesn't get any fresher. Plus the guys at Quality Seafood were super helpful. They gave up tips like how to get our clams to open up easier (freeze them for a day or more).

Getting the shrimp direct was only $3 per pound. Boy, I thought I was in heaven. At that price we bought all we could eat plus some to bring home, and I tried out all kinds of shrimp recipes on the grill. Our favorite was Bacon Wrapped Shrimp. We tried several ways, but the best by family vote is the way I made it with cooking the bacon partially.

A lot of people stay away from seafood on the grill. They think it's hard to cook grilled seafood. Actually, seafood is one of the easiest things to grill. The key is not to overcook. You're talking just minutes with seafood. The main mistake folks make in grilling shrimp or other seafoods is leaving it on too long. Then, the seafood tastes rubbery. Yuck. Just remember that it's quick. That's they key.

Off to the Beach - Fun in the Sun - Grilling on the Deck

Bridge Over to Cedar Island, NC

We're headed to Cedar Island, North Carolina on Saturday. My son just graduated from high school, and I had him pick our destination. He wanted to go back to Cedar Island. We went a couple of years ago and had a great time.

Cedar Island is an inner barrier island - tucked behind Ocracoke Island (the bottom of the chain of outer bank islands). It's a small town - peaceful and beautiful. The cost to stay on the water is about half what it would be on Ocracoke, and the ferry is right up the road. We just hopped that and hit Ocracoke for a day last time.

There's a hotel on Cedar Island, but we work out better getting a house. I figured that out when the boys were little and bouncing off the walls in motels. I found Vacation Rental By Owner and discovered that we could get a house - and often for less than the price of a hotel. They have houses for rent all over the world. We've had great luck with VRBO.

The house we rent at Cedar Island is right on the sound. The water is shallow and great for swimming and for boating. The owners have a kayak and canoe which guests can use.

There are clam beds out in the sound. The boys discovered those. We enjoyed grilling fresh clams the last time we went. Since we know about the clams ahead of time, I've been thinking about different clam dishes we can enjoy.

The owners of Cedar Sunrise have a nice gas grill on the porch, and we grilled almost all our meals on the last visit. We found out where the shrimp boats come in, so I know we'll grill some shrimp. It would be really nice if I could locate my grill wok, but my son reorganized the basement. I can now find nothing, but it looks better down there.

Cooking seafood is really easy. The key is not to overcook. We've gone out to eat seafood - of course. But the boys like my cooking better. I've converted several folks to eating scallops. Scallops usually are not very good at restaurants, but I can fry them up and never have enough.

Renting the house at Cedar Island worked out great last time, and I'm looking forward to visiting again. I can putter on the porch and play around with the grill and still see the boys out swimming and boating. The boys are teens now, so I guess that wouldn't be essential, but I like to know where they are and what they're doing.

I'll be offline next week. No net service. Even the cell phone wouldn't pick up last time. That's OK. Being unplugged for a week is refreshing.