Cedar Planked Shrimp with Parsley Pesto Sauce

 I read somewhere that said grilling fish on a cedar plank is the difference between a substandard cookout and a bodacious backyard blowout. Oh how true those words are! There’s something about that smoky, aromatic flavor that gets infused into your fish, it’s out of this world good!

 If you’ve never experienced the taste of anything cooked on a plank I encourage you to give it a try.  In the past I’ve done salmon several times, scallops, cheese,  and one of my most popular recipes, planked portobellos. Today I’m here to tell you to please make this shrimp!

The shrimp gets tossed in a light pesto made of parsley, garlic, lemon zest, olive oil and a pinch of red pepper flakes and then as it’s cooking you brush even more of the pesto on, it’s so good!

 Remember to always use un-treated food safe planks. I recently got a good buy at my Costco, 8 boards, different lengths for 6.99. The hardest thing to do is to remember to soak your boards, I like to soak mine for around 2 hours. I usually fill a rimmed baking sheet with water, then submerge the board, and anchor it down with something heavy.

 Grill some lemon halves on the side they’ll plump up and get real juicy, you can squeeze the juice on your fish or use it for dressing in a salad to go along with your shrimp, it’s wonderful!

 I cooked my planked shrimp on a gas grill set at medium heat until they turned nice and pink, maybe 15 minutes or so but check accordingly to your own grill. Try not lifting the lid too often because the wet cedar creates an amazing smoke which infuses your shrimp. Have a spray water bottle handy in case you get flare-ups.

 Seriously, you have to try this!

Cedar Planked Shrimp with Parsley Pesto Sauce

 

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Ingredients

• 1 food safe, cedar planked board, soaked for 2 hours
• 1 lb. of 21-25 shrimp, cleaned and deveined and patted dry
• 1 large bunch of Italian parsley
• the zest of 2 lemons
• 1 large garlic clove, finely grated on a microplane
• a pinch or more of red pepper flakes
• olive oil to loosen the pesto

Instructions

1. Mix pesto up by using all the ingredients, set a little bit aside for brushing on the grill.
2. Toss shrimp in mixture, coating it all over.
3. Take your board out of the water and pat dry, rubbing the top only with olive oil.
4. Place your cedar board on a clean and dry baking sheet for ease in carrying it out to the grill.
5. Arrange shrimp on top, I placed 2 together to form a circle.
6. Cook on medium high heat until shrimp is cooked and nice and pink brushing with remaining pesto half way through.
7. Take the 2 lemons that were used for the zest, cut them in half, drizzle with olive oil and place cut side down on the grill, remove when nice grill marks are formed.
8. Serve your shrimp right from the plank, enjoy!

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