Cilantro Lime Shrimp Skewers
We marinate some shrimp briefly in some lime juice and cilantro and skewer them with tomatoes and mushrooms. We could have added some jalapeno or other chiles for some heat but we keep them kid-friendly here. These are so easy to make and the marinade is enough for at least double the amount of shrimp that we had on hand. Originally served as part of: Shrimp Skewers and Cold Soup.
Ingredients
- 1/3 pound jumbo, uncooked, deveined, with shell-on shrimp (Trader Joe's) (defrosted according to package)
- 2 large limes
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed and peeled)
- salt & pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (cleaned and chopped)
- 10 medium cherry tomatoes (rinsed and dried)
- 8 small white-button mushrooms (wiped clean and stems removed)
Instructions
We start off by defrosting our shrimp according to the package directions in a colander in the sink. Meanwhile, we make our quick marinade. In a glass measuring cup, we squeeze our limes, yielding 1/4 cup of juice. We add the garlic, salt and pepper, olive oil, and cilantro and stir. We place the defrosted shrimp in a medium bowl, one at a time, removing their shells and discarding them. We pour the cilantro lime marinade over the shrimp and set it aside for a couple of minutes while we turn on the gas grill.
While our grill is pre-heating, we take out our metal skewers and alternate cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and shrimp on four skewers. We place the skewers on a dinner plate. The shrimp do not need to marinate for a long time, in fact, any longer than 10 minutes and we would have refrigerated them (only for at most 30 minutes since the acid in the marinade would "cook" the shrimp and change their texture.)
We grill the skewers over a medium heat just for a couple of minutes on each side until the shrimp are just cooked through.
Ingredients
- ⅓ lb jumbo shell-on deveined shrimp (Trader Joe's)
- 2 large limes
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed and peeled)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro (chopped)
- 10 medium cherry tomatoes
- 8 small white button mushrooms (stems removed)
Instructions
What's a kid job?
A Kid job is a step kids can help with, with a grown-up nearby, not one they do on their own. Every kid is different, so go by what your child can do rather than by age. Roughly:
- Little ones (about 2 to 4) can stir, pour in ingredients a grown-up has measured, tear lettuce, wash vegetables and sprinkle toppings.
- Older kids (about 5 to 8) can also measure and level, crack eggs, whisk, roll and cut out dough, and put things together.
- Bigger kids can read the recipe aloud, keep track of the timer, and take on more of the cooking as they're ready.
Steps with a knife, microplane, skewers, stove, oven, grill or hot oil, or with raw meat, poultry or seafood, are marked Grown-up. Kids can still watch those, from a safe distance.
Thaw the shrimp in a colander in the sink, according to the package.
Kid job
Squeeze the limes into a glass measuring cup (about ¼ cup) and stir in the garlic, salt, pepper, oil and cilantro.
Grown-up
Peel the shrimp into a medium bowl and pour the marinade over them. Heat the grill. (Refrigerate if marinating more than 10 minutes, and no longer than 30.)
Grown-up
Thread the tomatoes, mushrooms and shrimp onto 4 metal skewers. Wash your hands.
Grown-up
Grill over medium heat a couple of minutes a side, until the shrimp are just cooked through.