This fun recipe for marinated shrimp with cucumber noodles makes a healthy and dramatic appetizer! You can also lose the forks, toss it all together in a bowl and make it dinner. Such scrumptious seafood possibilities!
Okay, before I start going on and on about this recipe, which I think I might make over and over and over until the Southern husband pleads for mercy, I need to take a couple seconds to vent about my food photography.
Usually thing go this way: I make whatever it is I am making, and somewhere in the back of my mind as whatever it is starts coming together, I am thinking about the shot. And most of the time I have one particular approach in mind.
Sometimes it works…sometimes it is a disaster….but regardless of how it turns out, I know what I was TRYING to do, picture-wise.
However. There are also days where I know there is a pretty picture in here somewhere, but honestly? I have no clue how to get it. So I try a little bit of this and a little bit of that, while the Southern husband gets hungrier and hungrier and starts eating pretzels and checking out the dog’s kibble.
These are the days I tend to end up with nothing…but sometimes I end up with two totally different shots that I actually really like. And so it starts. Which one to use? Do I use the cool artsy one at the top of this post? Or do I use this one?
Dilemmas, dilemmas.
How To Make Marinated Shrimp With Cucumber Noodles
In the meantime, let me tell you about this fun recipe, which is actually meant to be an appetizer but which we happily ate for dinner as part of our Friday Night Lights series. And let me start by saying there are no actual noodles involved – those scrumptious noodle-like things you see in both pictures are…wait for it…made out of cucumber.
You start by cutting long thin strips of cucumber, which you could do with a plain old kitchen knife if you have steady hands and patience, but I used my new mandoline, which is a jiffy slicing device that will cut an ordinary looking English cuke into noodle-shaped slices in about 3 minutes. (And here is the part where I tell you to be VERY careful whenever you use a mandoline. They are SHARP.
While you are slicing, simmer up some shrimp with a little lemon and salt until they are just done, and then let them cool. Now marinate your shrimp and the cucumber noodles in an easy little marinade of sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, lime and red pepper. This is going to make your shrimp taste like heaven, and make your cucumber noodles as soft and pliable as linguine.
Now comes the fun part. Take a fork and twirl the noodles around it, and then spear a shrimp on the end. Repeat until all your shrimp are used, and then arrange them in some sort of dramatic fashion on a plate. It’s one of those show-stopper kind of appetizers that will make you ridiculously happy.
Until you start trying to take its picture. So…let me know which one you like better, picture-wise. I’m pretty sure you are going to like how it tastes. :)
PrintMarinated Shrimp with Cucumber Noodles
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 17 minutes
Yield: 18 servings 1x
Category: Appetizer
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: American
Description
This fun recipe for marinated shrimp with cucumber noodles makes a healthy and dramatic appetizer!
Ingredients
- 2 English cucumbers
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime zest
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 18 chilled forks
Instructions
- Slice cucumber into long noodles, using a mandoline and being Very Very Careful!!
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the salt. Add the shrimp and cook until opaque, about 2 minutes. Scoops them out of the water and set aside.
- Combine soy sauce, oil, lime zest and juice, ginger, and garlic in a large bowl. Add shrimp and cucumber noodles, tossing to coat thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Twirl a few cucumber noodles on each chilled fork and spear a shrimp on the end. Serve immediately.
Notes
This makes a fun and dramatic appetizer, but it also makes a great light supper! Instead of using the forks, just serve everything out of that bowl you mixed the shrimp and cucumber in. Easy!
this looks and sounds so wonderful! Like you I could see eating this forever. tfs! I’m pinning too!
I love this! I can’t believe how easy it sounds. I think this would even get picky kids to eat cucumber.
I think they’re both pretty artsy fabulous! the top one looks like it could totally be in Bon Appetit. but the second makes me want to lick the screen. It’s totally a toss-up.
Oh My!! All of your recipes make me want to rush off to the kitchen and start eating no matter what time of day or night it is!! This sounds so incredibly delicious.
Thanks all! I might have to get out my forks and my mandoline again now…at least I don’t have to struggle with the picture though!
omg! use BOTH pictures! the second one is just devine.. and i dont even LIKE shrimp! :)
They’re both great. I couldn’t choose.
Like that you added Asian flavors with the shrimp and cucumber. Zucchini would be alternative…maybe with Italian flavors.
It might be…you’d have to experiment to see if zucchini got as pliable as the cuke once it marinated, since twirling the “noodles” around the fork is key. But maybe!
Looks and sounds great…..adding carrots cut on mandolin and cook just enough to soften and into ice bath to keep color and shape…and cut green onions in about one inch lengths and then cut down length into very thin strips..into ice bath to curl and add to the mixture….This is the picture (I am very visual) that came to mind as I read your recipe….will make tomorrow…just need cucumber