An Improvised Birthday

The Bride and I were all set to have fish again for dinner tonight.  As work came to a close, I received an email from her, indicating that today was her father's birthday, and that he would be coming over for dinner.  Knowing that he does not enjoy fish, we had to alter our plans.  I've been to Red Lobster with the man before, so I know that while he does not like fish, the guy can throw down some serious shrimp.  This would be close enough for our diets, and please him at the same time.  To add to his birthday meal, I picked up a VERY nice filet mignon (shout-out goes to Mackie Meats at Findlay) so that he could have a surf 'n turf dinner.  While he was the only one to enjoy red meat tonight, all three of us would be dining on the Shrimp and Onions with Cocktail Sauce on page 311.

The cocktail sauce calls for prepared horseradish, but the stuff you find at the grocery store just doesn't have the kick that I would like.  Years ago I learned how to make my own from scratch, and it is SO much better and ridiculously easy to do.  Start by peeling the horseradish root.

I prefer to use a microplaner, but I broke mine on Thanksgiving.  I used a box grater instead.

All you need to do is add enough plain vinegar to moisten the pulp to the consistency you like, and season it lightly with salt and sugar (I used Splenda) to taste.

As a warning, during this process your eyeballs will start burning.  This is your indication that you are making something truly awesome, and you will never go back to the store-bought stuff.  This took all of a minute or two to accomplish, and is vastly superior.

The horseradish was added into the other cocktail sauce ingredients.

Some gentle stirring later, I had a nice cocktail sauce.  I covered it with plastic wrap and set it in the fridge while I prepared the shrimp.

It does take some time to shell and de-vein the shrimp (by the way, that's no vein you are removing), and I actually prefer to grill shrimp with their shells still on to save moisture, but I also like to follow a recipe as best as I can the first time so that I can see what was truly intended.   Thus, I removed the shells for tonight.

I skewered them up, alternating onion slice and shrimp.

We needed a vegetable, so I improvised a ratatouille, grilling the vegetables first and then finishing them off on the stove.

As the only seasoning in the recipe was salt and pepper, the shrimp came off the grill looking rather plain.  The point, I supposed, was to let the cocktail sauce be the star.

I plated, and called everyone in to dinner.  Not pictured, of course, is the wonderful filet on my father-in-law's plate.

The cocktail sauce takes all of five minutes, and will make you a stud at your next party.  Seriously, this stuff is terrific.  The shrimp acted as a canvas for which to adorn with flavor from the sauce, instead of the other way around.  Friends WILL see this sauce if we ever have a need for shrimp appetizers at a gathering.  The onions didn't seem to serve much purpose, though.  I didn't even plate them, especially since I had other (and more interesting) vegetables.  I couldn't imagine anyone just eating leaves of plain grilled onions.  Otherwise, this meal was a happy success.