Cooking with Bobby Flay

Bobby Flay

This is actually a very simple dish, especially if you make the flavored butter ahead of time. The heat of the shrimp melts the butter as you brush it on-yum. I think that this tomatillo salsa is a good accompaniment to the shrimp, but feel free to substitute almost any salsa of your liking.

Grilled Shrimp Brushed with Smoked Chile Butter and Tomatillo Salsa, serves 4

  • 10 tomatillos, husked and scrubbed
  • 5 cut in half and 5 diced
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 1⁄4 cup finely chopped red onion
  • 1 serrano chile, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1⁄4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
  • 11⁄2 pounds large shrimp, shelled and deveined
  • 32 (6-inch) wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil
  • Smoked Chile Butter (recipe follows)
Grilled Shrimp Brushed with Smoked Chile Butter and Tomatillo Salsa
  1. Place the halved tomatillos and the lime juice in a blender and blend until smooth. Put the coarsely chopped tomatillos, the onion, and serrano in a medium bowl, add the pureed tomatillo mixture, and stir to coat.
  2. Add the olive oil and honey and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the cilantro just before serving. This can be made up to 4 hours in advance and kept in the refrigerator.
  3. Preheat a grill to high or a grill pan over high heat.
  4. Spear 2 shrimp onto each skewer by push-ing a skewer through the thick end and the tail, then smoothing the shrimp along the skewer to help it lie flat. Brush the shrimp with the canola oil, then season on both sides with salt and pepper. Grill the shrimp, brushing with the smoked chile butter every 30 seconds, for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until cooked through.
  5. Remove the shrimp from the skewers, place on a platter, and immediately brush with the remaining chile butter. Serve the shrimp over tomatillo salsa with any melted chile butter spooned around the shrimp.

Smoked Chile Butter, makes about 3⁄4 cup

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 small shallot, chopped
  • 12 tablespoons (11⁄2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1. Heat the oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
  2. Put the butter in a food processor and add the shallot mixture, chipotle chiles, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper and process until smooth. Scrape the chile butter into a bowl. This can be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated.

*Adapted from Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook, by Bobby Flay.  Copyright 2007.  Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.