When Truffles and Shrimp Meet the Taste is Sweet!

In recipes, certain ingredients always stand out. "Gold-flaked Chocolate and Caramel Pudding." "Harbenero Beef and Broccoli." "Grilled Shrimp with Truffle Oil Vinaigrette." Mmm! Truffles. These days cooks are sprinkling truffle oil on everything... with good reason. The taste is distinct, delicate and yet delectable. When asked how to save a bad dish, a contestant on "Top Chef" said, "Sprinkle some truffle oil on it !" How could I resist using this wonderful essence of fungus?

Except, of course, that I couldn't actually find Truffle Oil. Even Whole Foods didn't have it! (In retrospect, I should have tried Williams Sonoma.) So I had to settle for truffle oil infused olive oil. The clerk said it was "just as good." I knew I was in trouble.

Without the aid of pure truffle oil, I would have to ratchet up the flavor up in other ways. First, the main protein, the shrimp itself, would have to hold up more of the bargain. I went for un-shelled Gulf Shrimp which are the sweetest and most expensive. Buying them unshelled locks in more flavor. Did you know that shrimp have a sizing system? For example, a mid sized shrimp is a U25. That means about 25 shrimp per pound. I bought U15s.

I decided to spice things up with some mild hot peppers. Sweet and spicy are like getting married in heaven. Unfortunately, I can't tell hot peppers apart, so I'm not sure exact what I peppers I used.

Prepping shelled shrimp is time consuming. First, one shallowly cuts the top of the shell, which allows access to the "vein" which is actually the intenstines. The vein can easily be removed with the point of a knife and wiped onto a paper towel. The shell is then peeled off, being careful to leave the tail in place to hold the shrimp together. I then removed the actual vein which runs along the bottom of the shrimp (this is probably not necessary.)

Next, I butterfly cut the shrimp, which is a cut along the bottom of the shrimp, leaving the top connected, so the two halves don't completely separate. Season with the olive oil and sauce then throw it on the grill!

The shrimp absorbed a wonderful smoked flavor from the grill, were marvelously sweet and had a nice finish with a hint of hot peppers and truffle oil. Excellent!