Grilled Shrimp and Vegetable Salad

Glad I was able to get all my grilling done for this yummy salad before the thunderstorms came.  This is a wonderful way to use any vegetable you like.  I used as many different things from my garden as I could and it was delicious.  I think it made enough to feed six people as a main course.

1 ½ lb. large peeled and deveined raw shrimp

1 T. olive oil

3 ears of corn

2 zucchini – sliced the long way into ½ planks

1 red onion sliced into ½ inch rounds

4 different peppers- one sweet green, 2 mild banana, one Anaheim and one Poblano- cut in half and seeded

1 c. cherry tomatoes- halved

1 lemon – halved

1 t. white wine vinegar

2 T. pesto base- recipe follows

Salt and Pepper

Heat the grill to high and spray with Pam.  Put the corn, onions, peppers, zucchini and lemon cut side down on the grill.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Turn the corn a quarter turn and flip the peppers.  Close the cover and cook another 3 minutes.  Once the zucchini and onions get grill marks flip them.  Turn the corn again.

The peppers will cook fastest.  One they are soft, remove them.  You don’t want to cook everything too much, just until soft.

The lemon will be the next thing to come off, then the zucchini, onions and last the corn.  Let everything cool enough so you can handle it.  After it has cooled chop the peppers, onions and zucchini into ½ inch chunks.  Cut the corn off the cob and put it all in a bowl.

Turn the grill down to medium.  Cover the shrimp in olive oil and place on grill in ne layer.  As soon as you get them all down turn them over and cook for no more then a minute.  They will get pink very quickly; as soon as each side is pink remove them.  There is nothing worse than over cooked shrimp.

Squeeze the grilled lemon on the shrimp and add the pesto base to them.  Toss them together with the grilled vegetables and add the cherry tomatoes and vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Pesto Base

When my garden is producing an over abundance of basil I make this base of a pesto sauce and freeze it.  If I want to add pine nuts and Parmesan cheese I can thaw a puck of base and add those things.  But I also like to have just the base to add to recipes that use basil and garlic.

3 cups of Basil leaves- packed

7 cloves of garlic

1 T. olive oil

Put the garlic in a cuisine art and pulse until minced.  Add the basil and olive oil and pulse until paste like.