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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Seared Shimp and Scallop Skewers on Himalayan Salt Rock

While in Dean & Deluca last weekend, we found this amazing Himalayan Salt Rock to cook on.  Now THAT, my friends, is what I call a cool souvenir!!  So we decided to try it out last night with these fresh Gulf shrimp and imported Thai bay scallops.


Is this not gorgeous?!


First, the pink Himalayan Salt Rock should be placed directly on the grill and brought to a high heat (about 450 degrees F) to sear the seafood.


We gave the scallops and shrimp a rinse, and then peeled the shrimp tails, leaving only the last bit of shell on them.


The seafood was skewers and seasoned.


We used Ashman's Bombay Seafood Blast, which is a great mixture of many spices, such as curry leaves, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cloves, chile pepper, bay leaves, fenugreek, allspice and black pepper. The result is both savory, a bit sweet, a bit spicy, a bit exotic, and a whole lot of good!

The skewers went directly onto the scorching hot salt rock... and were grilled just a couple of minutes on each side... maybe 5 minutes total. It is interesting that the salt changed colors after it was heated. It started out a deep rose color when cold, but the hot salt was a light pink. Things that make you go, "Hmmmm."

The damp seafood just sucks up the salt from the rock, and gets infused with all this goodness by the ancient Gods of the Himalayan mountains! How is that for food magic?!


FABulous! We served the salt seared shrimp and scallop skewers (tongue twister, anyone?) over a bed of red quinoa with some Parmesan roasted Brussels sprouts.


Written Method:
First, the pink Himalayan Salt Rock should be placed directly on the grill and brought to a high heat (about 450 degrees F) to sear the seafood. We gave the scallops and shrimp a rinse, and then peeled the shrimp tails, leaving only the last bit of shell on them. The seafood was skewered and seasoned.
We used Ashman's Bombay Seafood Blast, which is a great mixture of many spices, such as curry leaves, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cloves, chile pepper, bay leaves, fenugreek, allspice and black pepper. The result is both savory, a bit sweet, a bit spicy, a bit exotic, and a whole lot of good!
The skewers went directly onto the scorching hot salt rock... and were grilled just a couple of minutes on each side... maybe 5 minutes total. It is interesting that the salt changed colors after it was heated. It started out a deep rose color when cold, but the hot salt was a light pink. Things that make you go, "Hmmmm." The damp seafood just sucks up the salt from the rock, and gets infused with all this goodness by the ancient Gods of the Himalayan mountains! How is that for food magic?!


Food Nerd Notes:

The Himalayan salt slabs of Himalayan pink salt are supposedly found exclusively in Pakistan's Himalaya Mountain Range. The salt was formed 500 million years ago from the seas that covered the area at that time. It was dried by the sun when man-made pollution did not exist and as such is supposed to be purer than commercially produced sea salt. There, in the quarry, massive boulders of luminescent pink ore are hand mined from the Earth, and glow like freshly harvested meteorites. They are also unrefined, ensuring that all the minerals contained within the salt remain. These boulders of salt are then sliced into cubes and platters and planks and chunks for use on the table as serving dishes and also for direct cooking on the grill.

Himalayan salt is a rock salt popular among health food advocates who seek it for the nutritional value of its fairly abundant trace minerals. Foodies (and the rest of us who just like to explore ways to make food taste better and more fun to create) also love Himalayan salt in its more massive, brick and plate form as salt blocks.

Looking for more great recipes from my blog?
Please visit my Recipe Index for tons of ideas you can cook with/for your family.  Here are just a few random recipes from my blog to get your curiosity going:

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