I love trying to re-create my favorite restaurant dishes at home. Our family LOVES to travel, but we can’t always pack up and fly to Hawaii just to visit our favorite restaurants. We CAN however, with the help of my Broilmaster grill partnership, cook up some fresh, delicious seafood and reminisce about our favorite Hawaiian memories! With the combination of versatile cooking capabilities and convenient features, Broilmaster is the grill of a lifetime!
Hawaii’s North Shore is known for its DELICIOUS garlic shrimp. It’s served in a super strong garlic sauce that’s drenched in butter. It has amazing flavor, but the heavy sauce isn’t always friendly on the gut when you’re trying to run around in a bikini all week! So today, I recreated a lighter, more bikini friendly, grilled Hawaiian garlic shrimp and served it with a coconut lemongrass risotto…all on the Broilmaster!
I purchased some shelled and de-veined shrimp at the grocery store. They ran about $10/lb for 20 shrimp and they have great size and flavor. I skewered them before they were seasoned so they’d be quick and easy to clean and handle. I layered the glass dish with half of the garlic-ginger marinade on the bottom, set the skewered shrimp on top, and then poured the rest of the marinade over the top. I just let it rest in the refrigerator while I prepared the risotto, but it can be covered and marinated for a couple of hours or even overnight.
It’s fun using the Broilmaster grill as a stove top, especially since my stove inside the house is electric. I’ve missed having a gas stove top for years, and when my Broilmaster showed up, I realized that the timeless bow tie burner is known for even heat distribution. It’s just as good if not better than my inside stove for the toasted coconut and the creamy risotto!
I used my cast iron skillet on just the center burner of the Broilmater. I set it to high heat, and then started with the toasted coconut and chopped macadamia nuts. They finished quickly in about 4 minutes, but if you want it to cook just a bit faster, you can close the lid for a minute or two. I removed it from the pan and set it aside until ready to plate.
The Arborio rice that makes risotto so delicious contains LOTS of starch, but it needs to cook slowly so the rice gets nice and soft. I added 1 cup of the coconut milk/broth mixture at a time and continuously stirred it until almost all the liquid was dissolved. I left the hammered lemongrass stalks in the pan while the risotto was cooking, so the flavor would get into all of the rice. After about 20 minutes, when the risotto was finished cooking, I set it aside to cool while I grilled the shrimp.
My shrimp grilled up really fast, so I only needed about 2 minutes per side, even while still only using the center burner on high heat.
The Broilmaster grill makes this dish so easy to cook! Its versatile multi-level cooking grids, retract-a-rack and bow tie burner live on in the new generation of stainless steel grills! This dish is also easy to plate and easy to eat. Just spread the risotto onto a plate, sprinkle with toasted coconut and macadamia nuts, top with the shrimp, and eat! The creamy, comforting flavor of the risotto is a great balance with the crunchy coconut and macadamia nuts. The shrimp still have that great Hawaiian garlic and ginger flavor, but now they have that great, freshly grilled, perfectly cooked, lighter taste! We’re still not in Hawaii, but it sure feels good to pretend by the pool!
Grilled Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp with Coconut Lemongrass Risotto
Prep Time: 20 minutes / Cook Time: 30 minutes / Servings: 4
Ingredients:
Shrimp and Marinade:
1 lb. (20 ct.) shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 lemons, juiced and zested
1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
Risotto:
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 light coconut milk
3 stalks of lemongrass, lightly pounded out
2 tbsp. Olive oil or butter
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 tsp. Each salt and pepper
Steps:
Prepare the Shrimp:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, sesame oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Whisk until combined. Transfer half of the mixture to a large glass dish for the shrimp skewers.
Rinse the shrimp and remove any remaining veins. Skewer the shrimp onto four skewers (5 shrimp each) and place them in the glass dish. Cover with the remaining garlic mixture and place the dish in the refrigerator until ready to grill.
Prepare the Risotto:
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the vegetable broth and coconut milk. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together the shredded coconut and chopped macadamia nuts.
Place a cast iron skillet in the center of the Broilmaster grill, ignite to high heat and add the coconut and macadamia nut mixture. Cook and stir on high heat until the coconut is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Remove the mixture from the pan and set aside until ready to plate.
Use the same cast iron skillet to cook the risotto. Add the olive oil to the pan and stir in the arborio rice. Stir and toast the rice for about 3 minutes.
Add in the lemongrass and begin adding the broth mixture about 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly. When the broth is about 90% absorbed, add in another 1 cup at a time and stir until 90% absorbed. Repeat this process one more time until all the broth is used (3 cups) and the rice is soft, thick and creamy, about 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and allow it to cool while grilling the shrimp. Remove the lemongrass stalks just before serving.
Grill the Shrimp:
Keep the center burner heated to high heat.
Place the shrimp skewers diagonally on the grill grates and grill for about 2 minutes on each side, just until cooked through. Remove from the heat.
To Serve:
Divide the risotto evenly onto four serving dishes. Sprinkle each plate with about 2 tbsp. of the the toasted coconut/macadamia nut mixture.
Top each plate with a skewer of grilled shrimp and serve!