Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Sweet Chili Apricot Shrimp Skewers over Israeli Couscous

Main Dishes

Apolinaras really enjoyed the last Israeli couscous dish I made. In fact, he said it would have been a 10 if I hadn’t included the spinach in the salad, haha. He snuck another box into our cart at Trader Joe’s recently, which I thought was pretty cute, and since he’s completely spoiled, I decided to whip up a dish featuring the couscous and some tasty shrimp for him the very next day.

I basted the skewered shrimp with a sauce mixed up from Thai sweet chili sauce, apricot preserves, and a touch of rice wine vinegar. Then I cooked the shrimp up quickly on my grill pan and served them atop a bed of Israeli couscous with red onion, red pepper, and corn. This was such a lovely light summer meal!

Sweet Chili Apricot Shrimp Skewers over Israeli Couscous
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Shrimp:
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup low sugar apricot preserves
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Israeli Couscous:
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 1/3 cups Israeli Couscous (1 8-ounce box from Trader Joe’s)
1 3/4 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups cooked corn

Directions:
To make the shrimp, soak 6 wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes. Thread shrimp onto the skewers. Place sweet chili sauce, apricot preserves, vinegar, and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Brush shrimp evenly with about half the sauce with a pastry brush. Heat a greased grill pan over medium high heat and cook shrimp for 2 minutes on each side, or until pink and cooked through, basting well with the remaining half of the sauce while cooking.

To make the couscous, heat canola oil over medium high heat in a large saucepan; add onion and red pepper and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Add couscous and sauté 2 minutes or until light brown. Add chicken broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, put on lid, and simmer for 8 minutes or until broth is absorbed and couscous is tender. Mix in corn. Serve by evenly distributing couscous on three plate and placing shrimp skewers on top. Makes 3 servings.

Nutrition: 476 calories, 9.3g fat, 6.9g fiber, 38.0g protein per serving
Cost: $4.80 per serving

Roasted Rack of Lamb with a Fennel, Artichoke, and Chickpea Mash

Get this, my mom told me today that the reason I didn’t remember having mac & cheese growing up is because I didn’t like it! Apparently I always refused to eat it and would push it away and eat cereal for dinner instead! I mean I know I was an extremely picky...

Moroccan Spiced Chicken

I’ve gotten in a little summer routine in the kitchen lately. We can’t get enough zucchini and yellow squash and every Sunday I end up sautéing a bunch of the veggies (7 yesterday!) in my huge wok to enjoy alongside some chicken and carby side dish of some kind....

Ancho Honey Chicken over Tropical Rice

My younger brother went through a phase when he was about five where he was obsessed with cantaloupe. I remember him easily downing four or five slices at a time, which I didn’t really understand since I was such a picky eater. In fact, I used to regularly make fun of...

Cheddar, Feta, and Pecorino Romano Mac & Cheese

First of all, thanks to everyone who entered my blogiversary giveaway. A few of you correctly guessed the very common ingredient I don’t like is....black pepper! In fact, when Apolinaras wants to make sure I don’t dig into his portion of mac & cheese, he’ll...

Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash

Well it’s somehow November, which I’m in denial about, but the good news is that it’s finally time to share squash recipes! I actually buy winter squash out of season occasionally (yep, I’m a bad food blogger...) because sometimes I crave it even in the middle of the...

Mediterranean Lamb with Gnocchi

Kia ora! I’m finally gone through all our New Zealand pictures, so my next several posts will be recaps from our trip! New Zealand is just a breathtaking country and has something for everyone – mountains, beaches, wine country, even glaciers, volcanoes, and...

Chicken Salsa Quesadillas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I’m in the lobby of the Bright Angel lodge at the Grand Canyon right now sitting next to the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate, and taking advantage of the free internet! Apolinaras and my brother Richard braved a snow and...

Pecan Crusted Chicken with Lemon and Thyme

I’m on the hunt for new chicken recipes. We’ve been eating more poultry than usual lately due to my hubby’s weightlifting diet. While I haven’t joined him in slurping down protein shakes and chowing down on egg whites every morning, I try to keep things interesting...