Trying New Things

I’ll admit it. I’m an adventurous cook. I have been known to cook without recipes, throwing together whatever seasonings sound good to me (to my husband’s dismay at times). Oh, I’ve created some true disasters, but along the way, every once in a while I come up with a winner. Then the challenge is remembering what I did.

Tonight I cooked shrimp for the very first time. I know. That’s like saying, “Hey! I cooked chicken today!” Not much of a big deal. But I’ve never been a fan of seafood. It tastes fishy, and the texture just doesn’t seem right. My husband and children would sell their souls for lobster, and I learned to tolerate it. Gradually, they convinced me to try steamed snow crab, which also lacked the fishy flavor that I despise. Although it wasn’t a favorite of mine, at least I found a form of seafood that wasn’t too bad.

Now that we’re into the 100 degree southern Virginia weather, the idea of cooking heavy foods is completely unappealing. I was getting bored with the same-old, same-old foods. For whatever reason (maybe strange pregnancy cravings), I decided to try grilling shrimp. My kids love shrimp. Any time we get spring rolls when we order Chinese, I always give them whatever shrimp I find inside. They tend to fight over it.

So, with a bit of trepidation, I headed to the grocery store and asked the seafood saleslady to help me pick out some snow crab (my dinner) and shrimp for dinner. She recommended the easy-peel type of shrimp. When I got home, I finished peeling them, and my husband began searching the Internet for marinade recipes. In my ignorance, I thought I could skewer them, throw salt and pepper on, and just toss them on the grill for a few minutes. Apparently it’s more complicated than that.

My darling husband was appalled that we didn’t have something called Old Bay Seasoning. I had no clue what it was. He also thought we should have cocktail sauce on hand, and again, I’d forgotten to buy any. So while he read off different marinade recipes, I finished peeling the shrimp and began experimenting.

Here’s the recipe I came up with: 1/4 cup olive oil, three generous squirts of lemon juice, about a teaspoon of sea salt, a few shakes of cracked pepper, a few shakes of basil, several generous shakes of garlic powder, a bit of water to thin it out, and about a tablespoon of melted butter. I tossed the shrimp in the mixture, put it on metal skewers, and grilled them for about 5 minutes total, flipping them once in the middle.

I made cocktail sauce out of ketchup, horseradish sauce, crushed garlic, a bit of cayenne, and a bit of chili powder. I think it came close, but seeing as how I’ve never tasted real cocktail sauce, I can’t be sure.

Anyway, we had our seafood feast, and at the end, I decided to try a single shrimp. I was prepared to hate and despise it, as usual. I’ve never had a decent shrimp in my life–they’ve all tasted AWFUL. Do you know, it was actually pretty darn good? I tasted mostly garlic, butter, and basil, and the shrimp had no fish flavor whatsoever. Huh. I guess trying new things can be a good thing, once in a while. Now I’m wondering what I’ve missed out on, all these years!

Has that ever happened to you, where you learned to like a food you once hated? If not, what are some foods you can’t bring yourself to eat?