Grill Baby Grill (too easy) - Grilled Lemongrass Skewered Shrimp & Squid

I'll take any chance I can get to grill in the great outdoors. Sadly, I have no outdoor grill (or outdoor space for that matter) at my apartment, but happily, Leah does, and good friend that she is, she's more than willing to share.

We hit up Berkeley Bowl West last week, remarking to each other that we'd have to come back and spend a good amount of time there at some point. I could spend hours perusing the aisles inspecting all kinds of ingredients I've never seen before (fyi, this is the place to come for durian and kaffir lime leaves, should you need them) Berkeley Bowl is the perfect place to be a culinary adventurer. We picked up everything we needed for our grilled seafood dinner, headed back to her place, poured ourselves some glasses of wine and got to work. Leah had the brilliant idea to make shrimp and squid skewers, and to use lemongrass as the skewers. We hoped the lemongrass would impart a bit of flavor to the seafood. It did not. But it looked pretty! And presentation has to count for something, right?

Grilled Lemongrass Skewered Shrimp & Squid

1/2 lb large raw shrimp (cleaned peeled and de-veined)

2 squid (cleaned, peeled and de-veined)

6 squid tentacle parts (cleaned)

2 lemongrass stalks

For the marinade:

3 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

1 garlic clove, minced

salt & pepper

For the dressing:

3 tbsp parsley, chopped

2 tbsp thyme

1 garlic clove

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

Slice the squid bodies into 1/2 thick rounds. Put into a bowl with the shrimp, tentacles and the rest of the marinade ingredients. Let sit for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Slice the lemongrass into "skewers", keeping the root end intact. Skewer the shrimp and squid with the lemongrass, about 1 of each on a skewer so they aren't too heavy to hold. Skewer through the thickest part of each so as not to tear the seafood too much.


Whisk together all ingredients for the dressing and set aside in a bowl.

Grill over an open flame outside, or on your stove using a grill pan. Cook until the shrimp is pink and the squid is opaque, about 1 1/2-2 minutes on each side.

Pour the dressing over the grilled seafood and serve.