Maple Chili Grilled Shrimp

Help me?

I'm so tired. This blog post is from my Monday to-do list. I'm two days behind in life, people. I had a crazypants weekend. At least for me... seeing as my weekends usually involve baking cookies and dates with my PVR. But not this week, no siree! I had a real girls night on the town like I haven't had in a long time and it was a blast. I had so so so much fun. But holy man I am so so so so tired. I am currently working on building my immune system up again, after treating it like a crash test dummy.

Iwillnotgetsick.Iwillnotgetsick.Iwillnotgetsick.

My efforts involve a lot of Cold FX, echinacea, elderberry, vitamin C, garlic, ginger, green tea, and standing on my head if required. I repeat. I will NOT get sick. If all goes as planned... I'll be feeling like myself again right in time for crazypants weekend #2. Sigh, I love summer...

Oh, right! Shrimp! These were really, really good.

I, umm... don't really know what else to tell you about them. We've made them three times in two weeks. And I really haven't been cooking that much at all. That's saying something coming from me, as I rarely like to repeat meals. They are just simply the most flavourful little shrimp I have ever had. Make them!

Maple Chili Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients

1.5 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined (mine are 21/25 count), defrosted if frozen
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup salt
Cold water

1/2 Teaspoon each:
 Smoked paprika
 Cayenne pepper
 Chili powder
 Crushed chili flakes
 Oregano
 Salt

 2 Tbsp maple syrup
 Drizzle olive oil (about 1 tbsp)

1. Brine the shrimp: Dissolve the salt and sugar in a large bowl of cold water. Add the shrimp. There should be enough water to cover the shrimp by about an inch. Stir, cover, and leave the bowl in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The longest I have left it is slightly over an hour, but I imagine you could leave them for a few hours without any trouble. Longer than that and they might be overly salty though.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the spices, maple syrup, and oil, whisk to combine.

3. Drain the shrimp and pat them dry with a paper towel. Add the shrimp to the marinade, stir to coat and let them sit for a while (10-30 mins). The longer you wait, the more flavorful your shrimp will be!
**Disclaimer: I made these again the other night and left them to marinate for somewhere around... Oh I dunno, 5-6 hours?! I do not reccomend this unless you want through-the-roof-fiery-mouth-numbing-spice!!! Although I do know a few people who I think would enjoy them this way.**

4. Grill the shrimp for 4 to 5 mins over high direct heat (less if your shrimp are smaller). Use tongs to gently flip them over after about 2 minutes. You can baste with any remaining liquid every so often, so as not to waste any of that flavour!

Serve on a bed of cheesy polenta or garlic mashed potatoes, throw them on top of a big farmers market salad, or serve them on their own as an appetizer!

Other ideas:

 * Use a grill pan if the grates on your grill are farther apart, ours are pretty tiny so there isn't much risk of the shrimp falling through, and we like the crispy grill marks you get from grilling them directly. Skewers would work too.

 *These would be awesome done in a cast iron pan too, just throw them in a hot pan along with the marinade and let it reduce down to a sticky sauce. Mmm!

 *One word... TACOS. Pinch those tails off of the shrimp , put em in a corn tortilla and top with avocado, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. SO. DOING.THIS.

Naptime. See ya next week !