Queen J Send-Off and Grilled Shrimp and Polenta, Grilled Peaches over Frozen Yogurt

My niece, Queen J, (that's her above, right) is heading to Marshall University in a few weeks. Our little families (she and her mom, me and Barista and sometimes son Chip) have a Sunday night tradition of ending-the-weekend-and-getting-ready-for-a-new-week. During the "school year" -- starting when J was in middle school! -- we watched Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. During summers we've found other excuses to hang out -- one sultry summer, for instance, was a whole series of '80s movies, including St Elmo's Fire (oh, that girl loves Rob Lowe), Dirty Dancing and Footloose. Other times we'll just sit around the firepit and talk and eat caramel ice cream. Tonight we gave J a little send-off before she heads to West Virginia and Barista heads back to Ohio University. She's going to love college, but I know Chip will miss her at the high school (she was homecoming queen and he was class president) . . . and I'll really miss our Sunday nights!

So, I made garlicky shrimp and polenta on the grill, topped with a bruschetta-like topping of tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and herbs. Truly yummy; even Chip liked it and he's not a gigantic shrimp fan. For dessert, I grilled juicy peaches with amaretto and brown sugar and served it over vanilla frozen yogurt. The whole meal just yelled, "It's summertime!"

Grilled Shrimp and Polenta with Bruschetta Topping

Shrimp:
1 lb raw jumbo shrimp (or tiger prawns), peeled and deveined
juice of 1 lemon
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t chili powder

Mix together and let marinate at least 1/2 hour in fridge.

Polenta:
1 tube refrigerated polenta, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
olive oil

Lightly coat polenta slices with olive oil.

Bruschetta topping:
2 tomatoes, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
several handfuls of fresh herbs, particularly basil and mint, maybe a little rosemary, chopped

Parmesan cheese (shredded, not grated)

Combine tomatoes, garlic, oil and herbs and let stand in bowl at room temp.

Prepare charcoal grill. Spray grill thingy with Pam.

Thread shrimp on metal skewers. When grill is hot, place polenta rounds on grill. Cover. Flip when they start charring, which could take about 5 min. Once you've flipped the polenta, place the shrimp skewers on the grill. Grill for 2 min, brush with marinade, flip and grill for another 2 min, or until shrimp are pink and done. When polenta is slightly charred on the second side, remove all to platter.

On serving plates, place 2 polenta rounds, 4 shrimp and a spoonful or more of bruschetta topping. Sprinkle with a little shredded parmesan. Enjoy!


Grilled Peaches and Amaretto over Frozen Yogurt

Take 5-6 ripe peaches from your farmers' market and plunk them in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon, rub off peel, cut in half, remove pit and slice.

In large bowl, place peach slices, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 T amaretto, 1 T lemon juice, dash of cinnamon. Toss well. Layer 3 large sheets of alum foil (or if you were smart, you'd buy the heavy duty foil). Place peach mixture in foil and seal well. Really well because you don't want the juice to leak out on the hot coals, meaning you'd lose out on that lovely carmel-y juice on your ice cream!

Place packet on your hot grill (after you've eaten the shrimp) and cover grill. Let cook for 5-10 min or until you think it's bubbly. Remove from heat and empty foil packet in bowl. When peachers are slightly cooled (warm not boiling!) serve over vanilla frozen yogurt. Mmmmm.