Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro, Lime and Peanuts

This dinner kinda has an identity problem. It has some Thai influences from the fish sauce and the peanuts but then I went and served it as a taco with white corn tortillas and a side of black bean and corn salad. I also was running low on cilantro but had some creamy cilantro sauce in the fridge that I served with the tacos that was made of milk, eggs, pablano chiles, cotija cheese and a lot of cilantro which leaned it even more towards the Mexican side. Even though it was a little confused it still tasted great. I especially liked the crunch of the peanuts in the taco.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2 limes
  
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  
• 1 pound jumbo shrimp, shells on (I used 26/30 count shrimp and removed the shell because I served them as shrimp tacos)
  
• 2 teaspoons safflower oil
  
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
  
• 1/2 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
  
• 2 scallions, finely chopped

Directions

1. Zest limes into a bowl. Squeeze in juice from 1 lime, and whisk in fish sauce and sugar.

2. Preheat grill to high. Brush shrimp with oil on both sides, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Grill until pink and firm to the touch.

3. Toss shrimp with fish-sauce mixture, cilantro, peanuts, and scallions. Juice remaining lime over shrimp.

Recipe from the August 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living.