Shrimp And Salad.

The geese flew back in to this backyard again yesterday morning.

They seem to be having quite a feast over there.

The geese have been grazing in this particular yard for the past few days. Must be some good eats over there. Mr. Hawthorne and I took a trip to Harris Teeter and they had these little key limes - 20 in a bag for $1.25.

I decided to make lime-marinated shrimp kabobs. Above, I have the limes, leftover pineapple, shallot, fresh ginger, salt and pepper, olive oil, and cilantro.

I always have shrimp in the freezer, so I thawed these out, peeled them except for the tails, and deveined them. Now, Sandra Lee has a handy tip for shrimp lovers. The other day I actually heard her say to develop a relationship with your local fishmonger and they would devein the shrimp for you. OK, I've been "developing" a relationship with Billy and Judy of Billy's Seafood for the past 25 years, and if I asked Judy to devein my shrimp I'm sure she would have some rather choice, colorful, totally deserved words for me ending with, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, bitch." And that's if Judy's in a good mood. But, since I am known to be the smartest thing on my block (and, yes, it is a small block) I peeled and deveined the shrimp myself.

I juiced enough limes to have 1/4 cup of juice, then I poured in ginger juice and minced ginger. I always have ginger on hand, too. I used to keep it in the vegetable bin, but found that too many times when I went to get it, it was in less of a perfect state than I would like. So now, I keep it frozen. I'll cut a chunk off whatever size I need, nuke it for about 15 seconds, then you can just squeeze the juice out by hand. After squeezing, I pressed the ginger through a garlic press for the rest of the pulp.

Minced scallions go in next.

Salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and olive oil.

About two tablespoons of chopped cilantro.

Then pineapple juice and some crushed pineapple.

I poured the marinade over top of the shrimp and let it marinate for not more than 2 hours. You don't want the shrimp to cook in the marinade.

Happy little shrimp soaking up flavors.

After soaking my skewers, I impaled my shrimp on them and poured the marinade over top.

After spraying the grill, shrimp skewers went on.

I heated up the rest of the marinade to a boil so I could use it as a sauce for the shrimp.

Maybe two minutes on each side, if that much.

Tender, sweet, flavorful shrimp. I love the grilled taste.

Earlier, Mr. Hawthorne and I had prepared the accompaniments to the mouthwatering shrimp. We're having Caesar salad with homemade croutons. First up, my croutons.

I went out in the yard and picked parsley, rosemary, oregano, sage, and thyme. Or if you prefer, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ... and oregano. But now I've got that ear worm singing Simon & Garfunkel's song.

I chopped up my herbs and minced my garlic.

Here's the nice French baguette loaf I got at Harris Teeter. OK, so I Sandra Lee'd it. I just didn't have time to bake a loaf today, but nobody will know.

I melted butter, added some olive oil, then added in the herbs and let them cook for a bit.

Next, the garlic went in. You don't want to brown the garlic, since it makes it bitter.

Bread cubes went in and I stirred to coat completely.

After stirring, tossing, and coating, spread out the cubes on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place them in a low oven - 250-275 degrees until they're nice and crunchy, stirring occasionally.

Caution: These must be hidden from my children. One child in particular will find my stash and consume the entire bag.

Next, Caesar salad dressing

I know I've posted our Caesar salad dressing before, but I might have new readers who haven't seen it and for you ol' timers, it's still worth repeating. This is one way I judge a restaurant - by how their Caesar salads compare to ours. I've had a lot of good Caesar salads in restaurants, but never one as good as what we make.

The ingredients, in order: Anchovies Garlic Lemon Gray Poupon Dijon mustard Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce Coddled egg Olive oil Parmesan cheese

We're making a small batch tonight, since it's just the two of us. Normally, we'd use the whole tin of anchovies, but if the dressing sits in the fridge for long, it gets a bit "fishy," which can be remedied by adding in more lemon juice. But tonight, we just used 4 anchovy fillets. And I always rinse my anchovies before using. (Note to self: Find a way to use up leftover anchovies.)

Mash, chop, mince anchovies till you have a paste. Let me be the first to say, "Yes, I hate anchovies. They're gross. Not to mention nasty." I could no more eat an anchovy straight out of the tin than I could eat that deplorable, disgusting, Godawful oyster jelly I made from the French Laundry. That being said, don't let the anchovies squick you out. This dressing is delicious. Just rise above it and get over the anchovy factor.

Next, 3 cloves of garlic get pressed in.

And the juice of one lemon goes in. (The second lemon in my mise en place is just in case more lemon juice is needed. You need to taste before you add in the oil to see if you need more.)

Mr. Hawthorne whisked everything together, then added a heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard.

Next, about a tablespoon of Lea & Perrins went in.

Now, you want to coddle an egg. We brought water to a boil, dropped in the egg, and let it sit for 1 minute.

The egg goes into the dressing. The dressing should be a nice "buckskin" color. Kind of like the color of this type.

Slowly, whisk in the olive oil - about a cup. (We use Bertolli Extra Light for our Caesar dressing.)

Finally, grate in the Parmesan cheese. One of my favorites I get at Harris Tetter is Il Villagio.

Whisk until the dressing nicely coats a spoon.

I washed, drained, and tore romaine lettuce.

From top left, Caesar salad dressing, romaine leaves, croutons, cooked marinade, and on bottom left, shrimp skewers.

Toss lettuce with dressing, add croutons and shrimp. Excellent meal.