Monday, August 27, 2012

Mojito Shrimp Bites


This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the San Diego Spirits Festival. Oh my goodness. What fun! If you are looking for a time of drinking and eating gourmet food, then this is the event for you. Going into this event with my eyes wide open, I knew it would not be good for me to carry around my good camera. So you are going to have to humor me with my cell phone shots. 

Throughout the day, they do cocktail wars where bar tenders are not given their ingredients until they start, and they also do food demonstrations all day with celebrity chefs and high end gourmet restaurants. There were several celebrities there. Some were more infamous than others. I am going to keep this post limited to when I met Keegan Gherard He served a chocolate caramel torte topped with a whipped creme fraiche that will keep me drooling for years to come. He was so nice and didn't mind snapping a picture with me at all. 
I love meeting celebrity chefs! First Hubert Keller... Then Keegan... Hopefully Bobby Flay will be next! Hey a girl can dream! 

All in all I behaved myself. Let me tell you... there were so many opportunities to mis-behave. I made my rounds... asked questions, drank, then ate a lot of food, had a lot of water, and watched a few competitions. I found a lot of Gluten-Free Alcohol companies... so lookout for a post later this week of up and coming yummy yummy adult beverage companies. Here I am at one booth pointing to their tiny "Gluten-Free" advertisement on their sign. People are starting to understand! This is for a cider company. Their pear cider is yummy! More on that another post...
One of the food presentations they made yummy mojito shrimp that was so fresh and scrumptious. I thought; "this is the perfect thing to share with my readers!" So below you will find the recipe. I just want to let all of you know I was safe. When you aren't sure, always hire a designated driver!
My son and his beautiful girlfriend escorting us home. =)
Gluten-Free Mojito Shrimp Bites
adapted from San Diego Spirits Festival
For the shrimp:
20 shrimp
1 TBSP canola oil
1 TBSP diced butter
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP rum
1 TBSP lime juice
1 tsp chopped shallots
1 TBSP vegetable stock
1 tsp chopped garlic

For the avocado pineapple salsa
1/2 of a pineapple
1 tsp red pepper
1 tsp yellow pepper
1 tsp green pepper
1 tsp sliced green onion
1 tsp sliced cilantro
1 avocado
juice of 1/2 lime
salt and pepper to taste.
4 leaves chopped mint
2 cucumbers sliced 1/2 inch thick.

Start by making your avocado pineapple salsa.
peel, core and trill the pineapple
once it is cooked, dice it.
dice up all peppers, onion and cilantro and add them to the pineapple.
Mix in the avocado gently and garnish with chopped mint leaves.
Set in fridge while you finish the shrimp.

Heat oil in the frying pan.
Saute and season the shrimp.
add a pinch of shallots and garlic.
Deglaze the pan with the lime juice.
Remove the pan from the flame and add rum.
Cook until alcohol evaporates.
Add brown sugar, vegetable stock, mint and butter.
Reduce liquid to a caramel.

Set out your sliced cucumbers and make a cup out of them by scooping out a small portion of the seed area.
Top your sliced cucumber cups with the salsa.
Next add glazed shrimp.
Garnish with mint and cilantro and serve!
This dish can be served hot or cold. Perfect for a party!


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4 comments:

  1. I love these little bites!! Looks so good!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What fun!! The festival looked amazing and you met some celebrity chefs.. awesome. :) These shrimp bites look perfect... I would definitely eat way too many of them. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carrie's Experimental KitchenJanuary 18, 2013 at 3:49 AM

    Good morning! I have featured this recipe on my blog for my weekly seafood round-up and have also linked this recipe to your original post so that my readers will be forwarded to your site. Thank you for allowing me to share! Here is the link: http://carriesexperimentalkitchen.blogspot.com/2013/01/seafood-frenzy-friday-week-45.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. YUM! Really good for party :D

    ReplyDelete

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