It’s a sad, yet little known fact that BBQ grills are outlawed within the city limits of Beijing. So for my parents at least, it was a summer without a grill.
That means that once we made it to Hawaii, we hightailed it to the Safeway for provisions. One of the recipes my dad made was this grilled shrimp and grilled scallop combo. We got a little out of control in the seafood section. You can certainly just do the grilled shrimp or the scallops. Or you can be excessive like us and whip up both.
The herbed citrus marinade was amazing—we used a regular orange and this weird sour orange with green skin that we found growing on a tree outside the condo in Maui, Hawaii. So…we probably shouldn’t encourage just picking and eating unknown fruit off random trees. But that’s what we did. We’re daredevils like that.
Or just unwise and foolhardy.
It’s all about perspective.
Anyway, you can just use a regular ol’ lime and you’ll get a really similar flavor.
We also found herbs on the condo grounds, where they were just growing in a little box outside by the communal grills. I mean, why would you plant geraniums when you can plant basil and parsley, right?
So using what we found at Safeway, on a random tree outside of Unit 202, and the mini herb garden by the grills, my dad whipped up this grilled shrimp and scallops recipe. You won’t be disappointed.
Recipe Instructions
Start by thawing your scallops. The quickest way to do this it to rinse them under water just enough to clean them. Drain and pat dry. The shrimp is most quickly cleaned by running them under a slow trickle of water while removing the legs (not quite sure how else to refer to them, but I think you get the point). Drain and pat dry.
Place all your seafood into a large bowl. Mince the garlic and herbs.
Set aside half of it and throw the other half into the bowl with the seafood. Add the zest and juice of the orange, the juice of half a lime, salt, pepper, and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir until combined and set aside to marinate. We kind of did a namby pamby circuitous route where we separated the shrimp and the scallops out and sort of poured the marinade over them…but just throw it all in one bowl and you’ll be good.
Meanwhile take the remaining garlic and herb mixture and mix in some olive oil, salt and pepper. This is your dipping oil for the bread! Clean your grill and heat it to as high as it will go – the covered grill should get to about 475 to 500 degrees before you start. Make sure you have long grill tongs, as the grill will be hot!
As soon as you’re ready, mix the seafood again to make sure you have a nice coating of oil and then work quickly to place the shrimp and then the scallops quickly on the grill.
Don’t move or fuss with them once they are down, as you want a nice sear and some grill marks. Use a basting brush or spoon to distribute the remaining flavored oil on top of the shrimp and scallops. Turn the seafood once and continue to cook until just cooked through.
Grill your bread and serve it along side the grilled seafood and garlic-herb oil. We forgot to photograph the bread because, well…look at this:
Also, grilled shrimp and scallops just seemed to taste that much better in Hawaii so be sure to try this grilled shrimp recipe for your next trip. See that garlicky herb and citrus dipping oil in the background we used for that crusty bread!
