Grilled shrimp and shishitos with a spicy tahini caesar

Plus, grilled croutons for even more flavor

Hello! Welcome back! Skip all the rambling and scroll right to the bottom of this post for a printer-friendly PDF of the recipe only.

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Hello from Big Bear! My family and I spent the 4th up in the mountains, and we’ve been doing nothing but “chilling and relaxing” as my 3-year-old says — otherwise known as cooking, eating, enjoying the fresh air, driving into town for ice cream when the mood strikes, etc. We even rented a boat and spent a few glorious hours cruising the lake.

All that to say that although I made a point of developing and shooting this recipe ahead of time, the writing portion took a backseat. So today’s newsletter, which was specifically dreamt up to give you something yummy to grill on this long holiday weekend, is a bit late. I’m sorry! But the good news is it’s only the beginning of July, and we still have a whole season to cook up this delicious summery meal, featuring grilled peel-and-eat shrimp and a caesar salad dressed in a spicy tahini caesar dressing and finished with grilled croutons.

Tell me more

This is, at its core, a very classic meal: caesar salad with shrimp. But, of course, with a few updates that take it to the next level.

I’ve really been embracing it this summer, and I hope you have been, too. We’re going to be grilling three components of today’s meal. First, the croutons that will go in our salad, and then the shrimp and shishitos. And since we’re grilling, I opted for peel-on shrimp. I find the peel gives the shrimp a bit more flavor, while also keeping it succulent and juicy on the grill.

The dressing has a tahini base, rather than the traditional egg yolks and oil. I’m telling you, it might be my new favorite caesar dressing. It’s so creamy and smooth, packed with umami flavors from the anchovies and the parm, but with an unexpected nuttiness from the tahini that will have you wanting to eat it by the spoonful. Plus, we’re adding a lil’ heat, because why not?

Before we start

• Devein your shrimp!! I’ll be honest, with the shell on, I almost forgot. Your fishmonger can do this for you and many places sell the peel-on shrimp already deveined. If you somehow only remember that you need to devein it right before throwing it in the marinade, like I did, it’s not that hard to do on your own, just a lil’ time consuming. There are plenty of YouTube tutorials — I watched this one.

• Prefer peeled shrimp? That’s a-ok. Instructions for how to tweak the recipe are in the “Notes” section after the recipe.

• Speaking of sections, I’m adding a new one after the recipe called “Make It Easier.” I’ll be providing shortcuts/hacks/substitutions designed to make your life a little easier, get dinner on the table a little quicker, and overall just make the process of cooking a meal a bit more enjoyable. Head to that section when you’re short on time or energy or are looking for a substitution. I’ll be including it in every newsletter where it makes sense moving forward.

• Order of events: I like to marinate my shrimp and shishitos, then prep my salad dressing while that’s in the fridge. Next up, I’ll prep my salad fixings — chopping the greens and getting the croutons ready to grill. When it’s time to cook, I grill the croutons first, then the shrimp/shishitos.

The recipe

Note: recipe videos are posted on my Instagram.

Serves: 4

Cook time: 15 minutes prep; 30 minutes marinating; 10 minutes cooking