Grilled Shrimp Wrapped in Soppressata with Mango Hot Sauce

This is one of those combinations that sounds weird, but is a crowd-pleaser. This recipe for Grilled Shrimp Wrapped in Soppressata with Mango Hot Mustard Sauce was published in my John Ash Cooking One on One cookbook. Depending on the color of the soppressata you get, you can show your San Francisco 49er spirit with the red meat and the beautiful gold colored sauce.

You can serve it as an appetizer or as a main course, with steamed jasmine or basmati rice. If you serve it as an appetizer, I suggest you skewer each shrimp individually, which will result in less mess for the guest, and for you!

Soppressata is a cured Italian sausage similar to salami. It has a wonderful, peppery flavor and is generally available at good delicatessens. Ask for it very thinly sliced so it will stay wrapped around the shrimp better during grilling.

This recipe serves 4 as a main course, 8 as an appetizer. You can multiply it to fit your crowd.

Grilled Shrimp Wrapped in Soppressata with
Mango Hot Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:
16 small fresh basil leaves
16 large (16-20 size) shrimp, peeled, deveined, and brined if you like
16 thin slices of soppressata
Mango Hot Mustard Sauce (see recipe below)

Method:
Prepare a charcoal fire or preheat a gas or stovetop grill. Place a basil leaf on the side of each shrimp and wrap the shrimp with a slice of the soppressata. Grill the shrimp until just cooked through. The center should be very slightly translucent- you can check with the point of a small knife. Serve immediately with the sauce spooned over or arranged for dipping.

Mango Hot Mustard Sauce
½ cup pureed ripe mango (from 1 medium mango) or canned
¼ cup fresh tangerine or orange juice
¾ teaspoon Chinese hot mustard powder, or to taste
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1 tablespoon canola or other neutral flavored oil
Salt to taste

Method
Combine the mango, tangerine juice, mustard powder, lime juice, vinegar, and wine in a blender and pulse 3 or 4 times to pureé and combine. Add the canola oil and pulse 3 or 4 times more to make a smooth sauce. Season with salt. Set the sauce aside for at least 2 hours while the flavors marry and build. The sauce can be warmed gently, but do not simmer or boil. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Makes about 1 cup.

My secret for flavorful, moist and juicy shrimp is to brine them ahead. This is a technique that works equally well for other fishes and poultry. Basically a brine is a salt-water solution. Other things can be added for more flavor, but salt water is the starting point. You’d think that adding salt in any form would dry things out, but here’s what happens, (you may remember this from your high school science class!). The action of osmosis comes into play. Things like salts will, over time, equalize on both sides of a semi-permeable membrane. In this case, the membrane is the cell walls of the fish or poultry. The salt on the outside migrates into the cell bringing along with it the water from the brine and so when you cook them, there is actually more moisture in the meat than if it had not been brined at all. The end result is meat that is a lot more moist, juicy and succulent!

The only caution with brining is that leaving it in too long will give you too much salt flavor. You CAN rectify this by soaking in changes of unsalted water to reduce the salt content. An important caveat here: Use either sea salt or kosher salt. Ordinary table salt is just too sharp and “chemical” tasting to make a good brine. Here is one of my favorite grilled shrimp recipes that starts with a brine.

GRILLED BRINED SHRIMP WITH A GRILLED CORN SALSA

Note that we’re cooking the shrimp in the shell. This, in addition to the brining, also keeps them moist plus the shell imparts a lot of flavor to the shrimp meat. You want to use good hardwood charcoal to impart a sweet smoky flavor. Avoid briquettes if you can because they often contain petroleum products.

Serves 6

For the Brine

1/3 cup each sea or kosher salt and brown sugar

1 quart water

For the Marinade

1/4 cup light olive oil

2 teaspoons finely chopped or pressed garlic

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)

2 tablespoons dry white wine

1 ¼ pounds large shrimp (16 – 20 size) or enough for 4 shrimp per person

Grilled Corn Salsa (recipe follows)

Garnish: Avocado slices and sprigs of cilantro

Prepare brine by stirring salt, sugar and water together until dissolved. Add shrimp in their shells and refrigerate for 1 and up to 4 hours. With a pair of scissors cut the shrimp down the center of the back all the way to the next to last tail section. With a sharp knife, butterfly the shrimp in their shells making an incision along the length on the back where the shell is cut. Remove sand vein and rinse. Combine the marinade ingredients and coat the shrimp. Grill shrimp on both sides over medium hot coals until they are just cooked through and shells are slightly charred, about 4 minutes total.

Place shrimp on plates and top with prepared grilled corn salsa, avocado slices and cilantro sprigs. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Grilled Corn Salsa

Makes approximately 3 cups

2 large ears sweet corn

1 each large red bell and poblano peppers, halved with stems and seeds removed

1 small jalapeno pepper; halved, seeded and stemmed

1 medium red onion, peeled and halved

4 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice (or to taste)

2 teaspoons honey (or to taste)

1/3 cup chopped cilantro or basil leaves or a combination

Brush the corn, peppers and onion with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place vegetables on a medium hot grill and cook on all sides until just beginning to color. Remove, cool and cut corn kernels from cob and place in a bowl. Pull as much of the skin as possible from the peppers, chop and add to corn. Chop onion and also add to corn along with rest of ingredients including remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Stir and allow flavors to marry for at least 30 minutes before using. Store covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days.