Grilled shrimp seasoned with Moroccan spices served over a bright and healthy chickpea salad.
I was in Charleston, SC last week, finishing the photo shoot for my upcoming cookbook. This was third time back there this year as my photographer, Helene Dujardin lives there. I’ve grown so fond of Charleston I could actually see myself living there. Beautiful city, so much history and charm, and the food scene is incredible. One of my favorite cozy neighborhood restaurants there is Lana’s where they serve Mediterranean cuisine with a southern flair.
This salad was a dish I had while there. It was so different, fresh and flavorful I asked Chef Ondo if he would mind sharing the recipe. He was kind enough to share so I made this for lunch yesterday and Tommy and I really enjoyed it. The shrimp gets marinated in a Moroccan style pesto called Chermoula made with fresh mint, cilantro and spices which I shared here yesterday on it’s own because it makes enough for several recipes and can be used on chicken, fish and even stirred into couscous if you wish. Then the shrimp is grilled and served over this simple salad – SO good!!
This was perfect as a light Spring lunch, Tommy loved it! If you want to make this more substantial for dinner you can increase the amount of shrimp and add more veggies to the salad. Hope you enjoy!
North African Spiced Shrimp and Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 24 extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chermoula, Moroccan pesto
For the Chick Pea Salad:
- 1 15 ounce can chick peas rinsed and husked**
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 2 tbsp mint, chiffonade
- 2 tbsp chopped chives or parsley
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper, to taste
- dash of Ras el Hanout
Instructions
- Place 6 shrimp on 4 metal skewers. Brush shrimp skewers with 1 1/2 tbsp of the chermoula and season with a dash more Ras el Hanout, salt and pepper.
- Grill shrimp on medium high heat for 2 minutes per side.
- Remove from grill and remove the skewer.
- Combine all the chick peas, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, lemon juice, lemon zest and mint chiffonade in a bowl, season with salt and pepper drizzle with oil and vinegar.
- Divide on 4 plates (about 1 cup each) then top with the grilled shrimp and eat right away.
