Sweet Heat Shrimp

Prep time: 30 min • Cook time: 10 min • Yield: 2 top 3 entrée servings

Equipment:

• BBQ grill or a grill pan

Ingredients:

To Grill:

• 1 pound large or jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted or coconut oil spray
• ½ fresh pineapple, skin cut off and top removed
• 2 jalapeño peppers, sliced into rounds and deseeded

Dressing/ Marinade:

• ½ cup macadamia nut oil (favored over olive oil because it is virtually tasteless; but you can use olive oil)
• 2 limes juiced, approximately ⅓ cup
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce, or to taste
• 1 to 2 dashes cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt

To serve:

• 6 to 9 Butter lettuce or Boston lettuce leaves 
• 2 Persian cucumbers or ⅓ English cucumber, sliced very thin
• 1 ½ cups jicama, about half of a medium-large jicama, sliced paper thin on a mandolin or cut into match sticks
• 1 avocado, peeled and sliced into 8 to 12 slices.

Directions:

1. Prepare charcoal until the coals are white and ashy or preheat propane/gas grill to medium. (Wait to heat grille pan until just before cooking if you are not grilling outside.)
2. Place the half pineapple face down on the cutting board and cut in half the long way. Cut out the hard core. Cut each section into 3 slices, the long way. (They are easier to grill in strips.) Set aside.
3. Combine all salad dressing/marinade ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to blend, or put all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake vigorously. Taste to adjust spice. Set aside.
4. Brush or spray shrimp, pineapple slices, and jalapeno rings with coconut oil. Shrimp will cook very quickly in 3 to 4 minutes per side depending on their size. Pineapple and jalapenos will cook in 2 to 3 minutes per side. It’s easiest to cook jalapenos in a mesh pan made or grilling or on foil.
5. As soon as you remove shrimp from the grill, place them in a shallow container and drizzle about half the dressing over the shrimp. (You are marinating the shrimp after they are cooked.) 
6. Cut the pineapple slices into 4 or 5 square pieces per strip.
7. Place lettuce leaves on plate, top with cucumber, jicama, pineapple, shrimp, avocado, and jalapenos. Serve remaining dressing on the side. Optionally, garnish with cilantro.

Notes:

Grilling the pineapple begins to caramelize the fruit sugar and enhance its flavor. The reason we marinate the shrimp after cooking is because macadamia nut oil (and olive oil) are not good for cooking at higher temperatures, but taste much better than coconut oil in a dressing/marinade.

These shrimp are so delicious you could also prepare them to serve as appetizers/ hors d’oeuvre, as shrimp cocktail with a slice of lime, or as a stand-alone entrée. (But consider keeping the grilled pineapple and jalapeños even if you don’t do the lettuce cups. The flavors are fabulous together...a little sweet and a little hot!)