Bobby Flay's Grilled Shrimp with Smoked Chile Butter

Cooked on the grill

The first time I had this dish was when my sis Elaine made it when she and Dan were over at our place. The recipe comes from Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook with minor revisions. I have to say it's incredibly delicious and surprisingly easy to put together. The basting sauce, a compound butter with smoked chile butter with olive oil, shallots, garlic, canned chipotles, and lime juice, is so simple and so delicious. 

Ingredients:
2 lbs. medium-large shrimp, shelled and deveined 

Smoked Chile Butter:

1 tbsp. olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small shallot, chopped

12 tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

Juice of 1 lime

Pinch of ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Clean shrimp and pat dry with paper towels. Skewer about 5 shrimps per skewer, place on a plate, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Chile Butter: 

1. Heat olive oil in a small saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot & cook until soft. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

2. Put butter in a food processor and add the garlic-shallot mixture, chipotles, and lime juice. Season with a pinch of pepper and process until smooth. Scrape into a bowl. This mixture can be made up to 2 days in advance (keep refrigerated).

For the Shrimp:

1. Heat a griddle or grill until quite hot (if using a griddle, spray first with a non-stick veggie spray like Pam before heating). 

2. Brush the skewered shrimp with vegetable oil and season with a little ground pepper (salt not necessary).

3. Place the shrimp on the griddle or grill and grill 1-2 minutes each side, brushing the shrimp generously with the chile butter every 20-30 seconds.

4. Remove the shrimp to a platter and brush with remaining chile butter. Serve with tomatillo or other green salsa on the side.

Skewer shrimp onto bamboo skewers. If cooking on a griddle, baste one side of the shrimp with some of the melted chili butter first.

Place shrimp, basted side down on a hot griddle (sprayed with cooking spray first to prevent sticking) or on a grill. Meanwhile baste the other side with the chile butter.