Oil Spills and Shrimp

So this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is terrible.  I came across an interesting satellite picture of the spill today:

And then I came across this article where they have now set it on fire.  In honor of the city that has seen far too much tragedy lately, I went with the N'awlins Barbecue Shrimp on page 312.

I had planned this at lunch today, and was talking to my teaching partner about what side I should do.  At the time I was thinking of something to do with rice; she suggested something with tomatoes, as that reminded her of New Orleans cooking.  I immediately remembered a recipe that I had seen while flipping through The Guide that would more or less fit both criteria, so the obvious choice was the Couscous-Stuffed Tomatoes on page 370.

Since the shrimp had to marinate, I took care of that right away with the intention of prepping the couscous while the shrimp was doing its thing.  There didn't seem to be enough liquid to really coat the shrimp, and I had to toss the shrimp in the marinating bag a lot to get every piece evenly covered.  I was nervous about overhandling the fragile guys.  I set them in the fridge, and went to work on the couscous.  About half a year ago I discovered Isreali or Jerusalem couscous, which is a rather large-pearled version.  I was apprehensive about the olives, because I am really not fond of the stuff.  I keep trying to enjoy olives, but when it comes down to it, I just don't.  This recipe, however, would be entirely lacking without them.  I ate a fair amount of the couscous stuffing while filling up the tomatoes.  :)

The Bride came home just in time, and I pulled the shrimp out of the fridge.  I immediately noticed a problem...the butter marinade solidified in the cold temperature.  Instead of a nice marinade, I had a nice paste. 

Those aren't carrot pieces, those are butter pieces (orange because of the N'awlins spices) that my shrimp were supposed to be "soaking" in.  Hmmmm.....

So I got The Forge ready, and set the tomatoes on once I had achieved medium heat.  I did not want them to get cold while I waited for the The Forge to achieve high heat for the shrimp, so I set them off to the side on the grill so that the indirect heat would keep them warm.  Once the shrimp were done (about five minutes total) I pulled everything off.  We did, unfortunately, have a fallen soldier.

Yup, the tomato at the bottom right fell to pieces when pulled off the grate.  Oh well.  So I plated the food, and The Bride and I enjoyed a nice evening together.

The shrimp was good, but you shouldn't call something N'awlins Barbecue unless it has some real zing to it.  Next time I will have to double the cayenne.  The butter pieces melted nicely on the grill and acted as a baste, but I still would refrain from calling this a marinade from now on.  I would be highly interested in using this recipe on fresh shrimp, not the frozen guys I get from Sam's Club. 

The tomatoes were a total success.  The couscous stuffing is fantastic, even on its own.  Again, the olives really have the part to play, and the fresh herbs and feta seal the deal.  I highly recommend using large pearl couscous if you have only used the small-grained stuff.  This is a keeper recipe, and so easy to do.  It will come in quite handy in the fall when my father in law unloads his bounty of tomatoes on me.