Lime and coconut marinated shrimp grilled with pineapple atop Thai yellow curry sauce. A sweet and slightly spicy combination that is well offset by a light and crisp Chardonnay.
Hitting a Citrus Whizbang
Shrimp is a lovely appetizer protein that I use often as it is can take on so many flavors. As I had two dishes for this pairing, this dish was to focus on a bright and spicy flavors (while the other was more rich and creamy). Lime juice and pineapple punch up this dish and bring out similar notes in the Chardonnay
Wine Pairing
Original Pairing: Raeburn Chardonnay
General Pairing: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Bl
Special Ingredients
Shrimp (Prawns)
Size of shrimp or prawns will impact what you can fit on a skewer and cooking time. I used large prawns to fit two on a 4″ skewer with pineapple chunk.
Yellow Curry Sauce
An optional sauce accompaniment but I recommend having. My go-to quick curry is the a sweeter Thai Yellow Curry from Traders Joes.
Equipment
Skewers – that you can grill with. I like bamboo over the general wood ones. Whichever you use, soak prior to grilling.
Also prepare: container for marinading, grill or grill pan, tongs.
Planning the Dish
Shrimp can easily over-marinate, so plan to set up and make this dish mostly the day of serving. If you want them to be warm/hot, you will cook it right before serving. But there is the option to cook then chill to serve cold.
Timing Elements
Day before: thaw, clean, and prep shrimp. Keep refrigerated. Make marinade.
Early Day of: Soak skewers in water for about 15 min. Prep all garnishes.
2 hour to serve: Marinade shrimp for 30 min to 1 hour. (No longer)
1 hour to serve: Skewer shrimp and get ready to grill. Keep refridgerated. Prep plates, lay down sauce and have garnish ready.
30 min to serve: Grill shrimp in batches (for volume may take 25 min). Plate as batches finish.
Serve: Finish plating garnishes
Plating Tips
A shrimp skewer (or two) can plate very nicely on individual plates, using the bright yellow curry sauce as a base. (For my event, two dishes shared a plate – each having it’s own presence).
Garnish with julienne carrots, unsweetened coconut flake, bean sprouts, cilantro -all will marry to the flavors. You could also serve the curry on the side or as a dipping sauce. These would look smart lined up on a tray as well.w
(see Wares section for plating supplies & ideas)
Pairing Alterations
To Sauce or Not
The yellow curry sauce is not a deal breaker for this shrimp dish. It brings a bit of sweet heat with this wine, but you could skip it. Another option would be a sweet chili sauce.
Skewering Options
Pineapple was specific to this wine, but it could be interchanged with another item. More classic skewer pairings could be a bell pepper or tomato. I would lean toward keeping it acidic.
Recipe
Pineapple Shrimp Skewers
Ingredients
Marinade
- 4 tbsp coconut milk
- 1/4 cup lime juice from 2-3 limes
- 2 tsp lime zest
- 2 tsp yellow curry powder
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 8 cloves garlic, chopped
Cooking & Plating
- 60 large shrimp (prawn)
- 30 pieces pineapple chunks
- 30 pieces skewers bamboo or other wooden pick
- 2 tbsp cooking oil high heat
- 1 cup yellow curry sauce premade
- 1 cup shredded carrots optional garnish
- 1 cup bean sprouts optional garnish
- 1/2 cup unsweeted shredded or shaves coconut optional garnish
- 1 bunch cilantro optional garnish
Instructions
Marinade
- Prepare shrimp as needed including cleaning, deshelling (may leave tails on if desired), deveining, dry.
- Whisk coconut milk and lime juice in a bowl
- Toss in shrimp to well coat. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes up to 1 hour.
Skewer Preparation and Cooking
- If using wooden skewers, soak for ahead of time in water for at least 15 minutes.
- Drain shrimp and pat dry.
- Skewer on shrimp, then a pineapple chunk in the middle, ending with another shrimp.
- Set up all skewers and keep on a tray ready for grilling.
- Clean and oil grill (or grill pan) and warm up with medium-high heat.
- Once hot, batch cook shrimp (do not over crowd) and cook about 3 minutes a side. Shrimp will become opaque and tightly curl up. Take off grill to rest.
- Allow time for next batch until all skewers are cooked.
- Serve with sauce (Thai Curry Sauce recommended) and add garnish of carrots, beansprouts, coconut flakes and cilantro.
