Tasting Salts...

Ah Monday...why so soon? I can't say I'm really ready for it, but I guess like most things...I have no choice. So, back to the daily grind. Who can blame me though, we had a pretty good weekend. We had dinner with some friends on Friday night, we got out into the real world for a little bit on Saturday and yesterday was a chore day. I actually folded and put away the mountain of laundry that had accumulated. I also washed the cars with the kids. They had way more fun with that than I did. Let's just say that we were all soaked and covered in suds by the end of that. In fact, I'm pretty sure we were cleaner then either car. After that, I made them a special dinner...

Have you heard of Foodzie? It's an online marketplace where you can buy from small food producers and growers. They do something called a The Tasting Box, where you have a monthly subscription and they send you goodies. I received this bottle of Woody's Gourmet Basil Lemongrass Salt for this month's Foodzie Tasting Panel. I immediately opened the bottle and gave it a little taste. I thought it was amazing. I don't normally do flavored salts since I add my own seasonings, but I loved that this had such an incredibly fresh bright flavor. You could actually taste all the flavors from the basil, lemongrass and garlic...I couldn't wait to give it a try. I really like the convenience of having so many great flavors in one bottle.

The boys have been begging for shrimp lately, so I thought this would be a great use for Woody's Gourmet Salt! The illustrator and I threw around some ideas and came up with Grilled Basil Lemongrass Shrimp served over Fresh Grilled Corn and Basil Rice. I saved this meal for the end of the weekend so we could all sit together and relax for the last part of Sunday. It was beautiful outside, so we enjoyed dinner on the patio together. It was a perfect ending to the day.

I will warn you, this meal is loaded with basil. I LOVE fresh basil. So, scale the fresh basil to your liking.

Grilled Basil Lemongrass Shrimp
(serves 4)

2 cups cooked rice

2 ears of corn

1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves chopped or cut into chiffonade (depending on how much you love basil)

2 tsp Woody's Gourmet Basil Lemongrass Salt

fresh cracked black pepper

Cook rice according to package directions. Next, grill or broil the corn on the cob until cooked. Cut the kernels from the cob and toss with 2 cups cooked rice. Season with 2 tsp Woody's Gourmet Basil Lemongrass Salt and pepper. Add the fresh basil in the end. 

1 1/2 lbs shrimp (peeled and deveined)
2 tsp Woody's Gourmet Basil Lemongrass Salt plus 1/2 tsp reserved

Season the shrimp with 2 teaspoons Woody's Gourmet Basil Lemongrass Salt. Grill the shrimp on medium heat. Remove fromthe grill when done and season with remaining 1/2 tsp salt.

This dish was fresh and full of flavor. Perfect for a nice spring evening!