Grilled Shrimp and Polenta

Level: Easy
Servings: 4
Nutritional Info per Serving: Calories 814, Total Fat 28 g, Saturated Fat 9 g, Carbohydrates 107 g, Fiber 7 g, Sugars 5 g, Protein 33 g, Cholesterol 213 mg, Sodium 865 mg
Total Time: 25 minutes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Fire up your grill for this irresistible twist on shrimp and gritsusing convenient store-bought polenta to skip the stovetop wait. Juicy shrimp, golden polenta slices, and bursting grape tomatoes grill together in perfect harmony, then get drizzled with a zesty, spicy butter that melts into a luxurious sauce. Ready in just 25 minutes, it's your easy ticket to a flavor-packed weeknight feast that'll have everyone craving seconds!

Ingredients

1 lemon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 to 3 teaspoons hot sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, loosely packed and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, and extra for greasing grill grates
1 pint grape tomatoes (around 20)
1 pre-cooked plain polenta tube, about 18 ounces, sliced into twelve 1/2-inch rounds
1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed

Special Equipment

Three 8-inch skewers

Directions

Finely grate the lemon zest into a bowl and add butter, hot sauce, and a pinch of salt. Mix until smooth and well blended. Gently combine half the parsley into the butter; set the rest of the parsley aside for garnish. Cut the zested lemon into wedges for serving.
Preheat your grill or grill pan to high. Lightly oil the grill grates. Thread the tomatoes onto the skewers (about seven tomatoes each). If you use wooden skewers, keep only a half-inch exposed at the ends so you don't need to soak them. Brush tomatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
Brush both sides of the polenta slices with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
Put the tomato skewers on the hot grill and cook, rotating every once in a while, until tomatoes are slightly charred and beginning to burst, 12-15 minutes.
Lay the polenta rounds on the grill and cook until marked with grill lines and lightly charred, about 5 minutes per side, flipping once with a flat spatula. Don't attempt to flip the polenta too early or it may stick. Remove from grill and set aside.
Toss the shrimp with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Grill, turning once, until shrimp are just cooked through and lightly charred in places, 2-3 minutes in total. Take off the grill and set aside.
By now, the tomatoes should be grilled. Gently remove them from the skewers into a small bowl. Use the back of tongs or a spoon to lightly press the tomatoes and release their juices.
Arrange 3 grilled polenta pieces on each plate. Spoon a quarter of the smashed tomatoes and their juices into the center, add a quarter of the shrimp, and place a generous spoonful of the reserved spicy butter on top. If the butter doesn't melt immediately, tap it with warmed tongs from the grill to finish softening. Top with the rest of the parsley and serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over each serving.