Summer is season for shrimp on stick

(Bill Slingerland is a Port Aransas High School teacher with a passion for cooking.) Summer is the season for grilling along the coast, and seafood is the thing to grill. Coastal cuisine calls for food on skewers, wrapped in bacon with cream cheese.

Well, have I got the food for you. It covers all of those three. Shrimp en brochette has seafood, bacon, cream cheese and has a toothpick through it.

En brochette is a French term for cooking on a stick or skewer. I have seen recipes with beef, chicken, lamb, and seafood. These are popular fare as an appetizer or main dish at a restaurant. It is basically a variation of the kebab.

Large shrimp should be used. These should be 16-20’s which means there are 16 to 20 shrimp per pound. These need to be peeled, deveined and butterflied. Wooden toothpicks can be used to secure the bacon around the shrimp or these can be threaded on to skewers, four to six shrimp per skewer.

The shrimp can be pan-fried, baked in a 375 degree oven, or cooked on a medium heat grill. I prefer the grill. These cook quickly and smell fantastic.

So fire up those grills for this fun and delicious shrimp dish.

Shrimp En Brochette

2 lbs large shrimp, peeled, deveined and butterflied
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
5 to 6 jalapenos, seeded and cut in julienned slivers
1 lb. bacon, slices cut in half toothpicks

Preheat grill to medium heat or an oven to 375 degrees. Put a small smear of cream cheese in a butterflied shrimp and place a sliver of jalapeno on top. Close the shrimp and wrap a half piece of bacon around the shrimp and secure with a toothpick. Repeat until all the shrimp and bacon are used.

Grill 5 minutes on each side on a medium hot grill or bake for 15 minutes in a 375-degree oven, flipping the shrimp halfway through the baking process.