Key West Cajun Shrimp

Yesterday they were predicting 94 for here, cooler than 104 the day before. I had a lb. of frozen Key West Pink Shrimp, raw, wild caught, so decided to do them on the smoker. They were shell on & my theory is if I am feeding someone good shrimp they can shell their own! Love those Key West shrimp! I decided to season with some Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, garlic chives from my garden, dried garlic flakes, olive oil, lime juice, salt & pepper and marinate for a couple of hrs. I decided I would do them on my perforated pizza pan, it would be easy to stir them half way through. I would have some Zatarains Yellow rice & a yellow squash with some garlic butter to accompany. The yellow squash from my garden was a little larger than I like so I scraped some of the seeds from the middle when I prepared it.
The weather prediction was wrong as usual, at noon it was already 100 deg. I had set my digital thermometer on a table, in the shade & out of any wind. About 3:00 I seasoned up my shrimp & got them in the fridge to marinate. Got a pan ready to cook the rice & would do them in chicken broth for some added flavor. Got me a cold one & went out to enjoy the sun! It had edged up to 104, oh well I was getting used to the heat after several days of this over 100. The digital hit 106 deg, the hottest I ever saw it here in Ohio! Somewhere around 4:00 I was about to get the smoker ready to cook but looked to the northwest & it was getting dark. Looked like the 20% chance of rain just might ruin my using the smoker. I checked the radar on my PC & looked like it might just go north of us, cook was still on. As I sat there sipping on my cold one it was getting darker & the wind picked up, got bad enough I took down 5 hanging baskets, I had a lot of water invested keeping them looking nice. We were getting some 40+ knot gusts & it started to sprinkle. Me & my dog Mag went inside, checked the radar, there was a band of yellow stuff, heavy rain, that could not miss us. I would have to cook inside but a plus was we would get some much needed rain! I got my rice cooking, sliced the squash, some salt & pepper and garlic flakes, I would do them in a skillet w/garlic butter. When the rice was far enough along I got the squash on & heated up a skillet for the shrimp. When the skillet was hot added about 3 tsp of the garlic butter then the shrimp, They were soon done so plated up for the wife & I. I added some shaved parmesan to the squash at the end. A very good meal even though I had to do it inside.
When it was all over, we got no rain, don’t know where that yellow stuff went! The few sprinkles we got evaporated as soon as it hit the ground.
Tomorrow we have a family reunion to go to about 50 miles away for lunch. Then Sunday a cousin & her friend are coming for lunch. They will be here for the reunion & came from Texas. Then Mon. I have to take my wife to the airport to fly to Chicago for a weeks visit with our daughter over her birthday the 27th. That is 3 events 3 days in a row! One event a week is about par for this Ole man & next week I will have to pick up the slack & do my wife’s work too. I’m gonna be wore out!!!

Printable Shrimp Recipe

HOT

Shrimp & rice

Rice & squash

Garlic chives

Pretty pink shrimp

Seasoned up

On the stove

My plate

Smokin Don