I recall that I invented this recipe as I wanted to make a dish something like Shrimp Scampi. Regardless of motivation, Lorraine loves it.

We haven’t made this in years, as the sons don’t like scallops, and we got out of the habit. Lorraine requested a seafood night last night, and specifically wanted this recipe, although she wasn’t sure if it was this recipe or Scallops Casino. We looked at the recipe and this is what she was remembering.

Baked Scallops Scampi

• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt or seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1-1/2 lbs sea scallops, shrimp, or a mixture
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Mix butter, garlic, lemon juice, pepper, salt, & oregano in a 2 quart baking dish. Add scallops and mix until scallops are well coated. Sprinkle with cheese and then breadcrumbs. Bake uncovered at 350 F for 25 minutes.

Notes

If you like garlic, double or triple the amount. This dish is flavorful, but not garlicky. Also, the lime juice is new as of last night — for some reason I felt the need for more citrus, so I added it, and now it’s part of the recipe.

Seasoned salt was substituted for the plain salt — I’ve been doing that a lot in recent years.

I purchased a 3# bag of frozen sea scallops at Costco before Christmas, to make a Christmas Eve appetizer. I wanted half a pound, but due to COVID, the usual holiday fresh seafood counter was not open. I was force to either change my plans … or buy a 3# bag. Temptation won!

Since then I’ve pulled out small amounts to make as part of a dinner, not as an entrée. It’s made the bag last longer, and we’ve enjoyed it. But last night Lorraine wanted the scampi recipe.

Except there wasn’t quite enough scallops left to make the dish! Necessity is the mother of invention, so I added shrimp (also purchased frozen in a large bag) to stretch the scallops. In the process I discovered this dish works great with shrimp!

This title is misleading. The real purpose of this post is the Teriyaki Sauce.

I purchased a large bag of 13-15 count shrimp for Eric’s birthday dinner a few weeks ago. The bag is FAR larger than was needed, but the price was excellent so I snagged it. When Lorraine and I discussed what to make for tonight’s dinner, she asked for shrimp.

“I’ll make the salad. You’re making everything else.”

Lorraine said that with a smile, as she knew I’d make dinner for her.

After dinner she remarked, “Save that recipe. It would be good with chicken.”

Absolutely. That’s next on the agenda.

This recipe is my invention — I read half a dozen teriyaki sauce recipes, and added things to this that were in none.

Shrimp Terkiyaki

SAUCE:

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp mirin
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 5 shots of Texas Pete
• 1 Tbsp garlic
• 1 tsp ground ginger

THICKENER:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

SHRIMP:

• 1 lb shrimp

Stir together all sauce ingredients in a saucepan and set over medium heat. Shake the Thickener ingredients together and set aside.

Stir the sauce and bring it to a simmer. Stir in the the thickener and stir until it returns to a boil.

Place the shrimp in a large saute pan that can hold them in one layer. Add 1 cup water and the sauce; stir to blend. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Flip the shrimp and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the shrimp is cooked through.

Serve over rice.

Options:

Next time we’ll do this with chicken. I would like boneless thighs, but boneless breast will work. For bone-in chicken, add another 1 cup water, bring to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 30 minutes.

I can also see doing this with pork or thinly sliced beef.

I saw jumbo shrimp and sea scallops at Costco this morning. The fish that Lorraine asked me to buy didn’t get bought.

I spotted prosciutto … and that told me what I was making!

Grilled Shrimp & Scallops Wrapped in Prosciutto

• 1 lb large shrimp
• MARINADE:
• 1/2 lb sea scallops
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 2 Tbsp white wine
• 1 Tbsp Hoisin Sauce
• minced garlic
• GRILLING:
• proscuitto

Marinade: Mix the marinade ingredients well in a gallon ziplock back. Add the seafood and manipulate to coat with marinade. Seal the bag and marinate for 1 hour.

Remove the shrimp and scallops from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Wrap each piece of seafood with a strip of prosciutto — depending on sizes, this may wrap 3 or 4 times. Thread onto skewers.

Pre-heat grill. Over low coals/heat, grill the seafood for 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Remove from skewers and serve.

Note:

Lorraine noted that the grilled prosciutto is far tastier than any other way of cooking it. This came out great and will be repeated!

Grilled Shrimp Scampi

• 2 lbs large shrimp, peeled and cleaned
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 head garlic, peeled, crushed, & chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp dried basil

Blend the oil, garlic, salt, and basil in a 1 gallon ziplock bag. Add the shrimp, seal, and mix to coat. Put the bag in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes, turning every 10 minutes.

Heat a grill to very hot. Once hot turn the burners down to low. While the grill is heating, thread the shrimp onto skewers.

Grill for 6 minutes or until the shrimp is cooked through. Do NOT overcook.

Notes:

Yes, 1 full head of garlic (or is it bulb?). Don’t be a wimp.

I had a bag of Argentine pink shrimp, 12-16 count, in the freezer thanks to a VERY nice sale at Harris Teeter. Any shrimp is good! But the larger ones work better for grilling.

I have recently reverted to a technique my college roommate John Chua taught me regarding garlic. Instead of pressing I crush each clove with the flat of a cleaver or chef knife, then chop as finely as I can — which isn’t all that fine. If I’m doing a marinade this is faster then pressing the cloves in a garlic press. The rough manipulation (crushing) releases the oils and generates great flavor.

Seared Ahi with Passion Fruit-Shrimp Salsa

Ingredients in boldface have separate recipes, which follow the main recipe.

• Passion Fruit-Shrimp Salsa
• 4 ahi tuna steaks, about 7 oz each
• 3 Tbsp peanut oil
• salt & ground black pepper

Prepare the salsa and set aside.

Coat the ahi steaks with the peanut oil and season with salt & pepper. Heat a dry cast-iron skillet and sear the ahi over high heat for about 15 to 20 seconds each side for rare, or about 1 minute each side for medium-rare). Place the steaks on serving plates and spoon the salsa over the tuna, letting the juices from the salsa run onto the plates.

Passion Fruit-Shrimp Salsa

• 1 ripe passion fruit
• 4 or 5 extra-large shrimp (about 4 oz), peeled, deveined, & diced
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped Maui onion
• 1/2 cup peeled, seeded, & finely diced tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp finely sliced scallions
• 1 Tbsp finely minced fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
• salt & ground black pepper

Scoop out the pulp from the passion fruit and press through a fine sieve. Reserve the juice, about 1 Tbsp.

Coat the shrimp in the olive oil and sear in a skillet over high heat until cooked through. Transfer to a stainless steel mixing bowl, add the passion fruit juice and remaining ingredients, and toss well to combine.

Outback Coconut Shrimp & Marmalade Sauce

Marmalade Sauce:

• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 2 tsp stone ground mustard
• 1 tsp prepared horseradish (not the sauce)
• dash of salt

Shrimp:

• 1 cup flat beer
• 1 cup self rising flour
• 2 cups sweetened coconut flakes (reserving 1/2 cup separately)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 jumbo shrimp
• oil for frying
• paprika

Marmalade Sauce: Blend all ingredients well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Shrimp: With a mixer combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Use the 1/2 cup coconut in the batter (the rest is for the covering). Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Clean shrimp by deveining and peeling off the shell leaving the tail on. Preheat oil in a deep pot or fryer to 350 degrees. Oil must cover shrimp. Pour remainder of the coconut in a shallow dish. Make sure the shrimp is DRY before battering. Sprinkle each shrimp lightly with paprika before dipping. Dip one shrimp at a time into the batter and coat generously. Drop battered shrimp into coconut and roll it around to coat it well. Fry four shrimp at a time for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown. Turn shrimp while frying to brown evenly. Drain and serve with marmalade sauce.

Stephen’s subtle sense of humor comes out in his comments in his recipes …

Seafood Crepes

Filling:

• 6 medium mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion, divided
• 3 Tbsp butter or margarine
• 3-1/2 cups (about 18 oz) cooked seafood, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3x 3oz pkg cream cheese, cubed
• 1/3 cup half-n-half
• 3 Tbsp snipped parsley
• 2 Tbsp sherry (optional)
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 16 crepes

Crepes:

• 1/4 stick of butter, melted (I don’t know how you melt butter and keep it as 1/4 stick)
• 1-1/2 cups of milk
• 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 3 eggs

Do-Ahead Tip:

Stack crepes with wax paper between each. Wrap and refrigerate no longer than 2 days or freeze no longer than 3 months. Thaw wrapped frozen crepes at room temperature for 3 hours.

Filling:

Cook and stir mushrooms and 1/4 cup green onion until onion is tender. Stir in seafood, cream cheese, half-n-half, and parsley. Cook, stirring constantly, until cream cheese is melted. Stir in sherry.

Assembly: Place about 1/4 cup filling on center of each crepe; roll up. Place 8 crepes seam sides down in each of 2 ungreased oblong baking dishes, 12″ x 7-1/2″ x 2″, or ovenproof serving platters. Sprinkle each with 1/2 cup Swiss cheese. Cover and heat in 350 F oven until crepes are hot, about 20 minutes. Garnish each dish with half of remaining green onion.

Crepes:

Beat all ingredients until smooth. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours so that the flour will absorb the liquid and thicken the batter.

Brush the bottoms of a 7″ crepe pan and 10″ skillet with melted butter and heat over medium heat. (I used a thin stainless 7″ steel pan. That seemed to work better for me than Calphalon.)

Pour scant 1/4 cup batter into crepe pan and tip the pan to coat the bottom. Cook the crepe until the top is set and the underside is slightly browned (about 2 minutes).

Loosen crepe (a high heat rubber spatula is good for this) and flip it into the 10″ hot skillet. Cook briefly (about 30 seconds) in the skillet. Meanwhile, wipe the bottom if the crepe pan with a paper towel to clean residue from the pan and wipe again with another paper towel that has a little melted butter on it if needed. Start cooking another crepe.

Stacked cooked crepes with wax paper between each one. Crepes may be used immediately, wrapped in foil and refrigerated, or frozen until later.