Grilled Shrimp with Black Bean Salad

I made this for dinner tonight after Mike & I walked almost 5 miles around Lady Bird Lake. This is a super easy and quick meal to put together. I marinate the shrimp while I am chopping the salad ingredients, throw the shrimp on the grill and by the time you have half a glass of wine, the shrimp is ready. I buy the large frozen peeled, deveined shrimp from Costco to save time.

This recipe makes a generous amount of black bean salad for two.

Shrimp

1 lb large shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 t olive oil
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t lemon pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt (to taste)

Place the shrimp in a medium sized bowl. Add all other ingredients, stir well to coat the shrimp and set aside for 15 minutes. When ready to grill, place on skewers and grill until done (about 3 -5 minutes per side).

Black Bean Salad

15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup red or yellow pepper, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
small cucumber, peeled and cut into large dice
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 T cilantro, chopped fine
1 T olive oil
3/4 t cumin
juice of one lime
salt & pepper to taste

Into a medium bowl, whisk olive, cumin, lime juice and salt and pepper. Add other ingredients, stir gently to combine. Serve immediately .

**Note - I sometimes add diced mango or a handful of corn to the recipe. It would also be nice with minced jalapeno mixed into it.

Creamy Gorgonzola Salad Dressing

I haven't made this salad dressing in years. I ran across the recipe when going through some old loose leaf notebooks that I packed before our move to Austin. I think I made it once 7-8 years ago and a couple of times in the 90s. I picked this recipe up when traveling in the USVI from a chef at an Italian restaurant. The dressing was their house dressing and I was obsessed with it.
This dressing pairs well with steak or grilled fish. Or even by itself for a big salad bowl dinner with some crusty bread on the side.

Use the best ingredients you can find. You need really good dolce gorgonzola for this recipe. It won't work with cheap gorgonzola. Italian dolce gorgonzola is the best, but if you can't find that, there are some great dolce gorgonzolas coming out of Wisconsin (and these are also much cheaper than the imported Italian cheese). If you can find good gorgonzola, you must make this, it rocks.

Creamy Gorgonzola Salad

1 C. dolce gorgonzola, cut or crumbled into chunks
1/3 C. balsamic vinegar
1 egg yolk
2/3 C olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 C honey

For the salad:

3-4 C of mixed baby greens
1 large carrot, cut into ribbons
cherry tomatoes

Salad Dressing:

In a blender, place the balsamic vinegar and the egg yolk. Blend for 30 seconds. Through the top of the blender, slowly add the olive oil. The dressing will start to emulsify and thicken up. Add the salt and pepper to taste, about 2/3 C of the gorgonzola and the honey. Whirl up for about another 30 seconds or until the salad dressing is well combined.


Pour the dressing into a container and chill until ready to use.



To serve, in a large salad bowl, place about 1/3 C dressing on the bottom of the bowl. Add 3-4 cups of mixed greens (I use organic baby greens, use the best you can find). With a potato peeler, cut a carrot into long, thin ribbons and add to the salad. Throw in some sliced grape tomatoes. Gently toss the salad until the greens are coated. Plate the greens and add a dollop of crumbled gorgonzola to the top.

The recipe makes enough for about 2 cups of dressing and it will keep in the fridge for up to a week. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before using, and shake it up well.