The Shrimp and a Dirty Rice featured on the Today Show looked fabulous but I wanted something with a little less kick. I also wanted to use some fresh ginger and garlic for the anti-inflammatory and immune building properties so I came up with this recipe. I used Marcus Samuelsson’s Dirty Rice recipe as a reference and am very pleased with the results. 4 stars out of 5 for the meal.

To make, dice a quarter of a organic red pepper (one of the Dirty Baker’s Dozen), 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled, 2 cloves of garlic, and a small handful of parsley. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons into a ramekin and remove the seeds. Squeeze one lime into the same bowl.

 Throw the 1/4 cup of red pepper, 1 1/2 tablespoons of garlic, 1 tablespoon of parsley, and 1 teaspoon fresh ginger in a small cuisinart or blender. Add the 1/4 cup of lemon, 1 tablespoon of  lime juice, and 1/4 cup olive oil (you can add a little more if you like) to the pepper mixture and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add a little more chopped parsley for color.

Pour the marinade over the 1 pound of large shrimp. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Steam the spinach or other green vegetable while it is marinading.

After 30 minutes, pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan so the bottom is completely coated. When the oil is hot, slowly pour the shrimp and all the marinade into skillet. Cook the shrimp until they are pink.

Serve the shrimp as an appetizer or make it into a meal with Saffron Rice and a green vegetable. We steamed some spinach. You have to plan ahead for the rice or can make it the night before like I did. The saffron rice tastes better the next day anyways and all you have to do is heat it up in the same pan as the shrimp. The rice will absorb some of the remaining marinade. It is excellent!

 Enjoy!