Grilled Shrimp Couscous

I'm having one of those weeks where my refrigerator is flowing with stuff, but none of it really has a plan. You know what I mean? Stuff like carrots, mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese, limes. All half used. All will rot if I don't use them, pronto. So I did a little creative thinking. Pulled some frozen shrimp out of the freezer, some spices and couscous out of the pantry, and went to town. 

I actually have found that I come up with some of my best recipes this way. Accidental masterpieces! Here is the delectable creation I came up with.

Grilled Shrimp Couscous

10-12 shrimp (raw, peeled, deveined)

1 cup couscous

3/4 green bell pepper (cut into 1 in. squares)

1/2 white onion (cut into 1 in. squares)

6-8 button mushroom (cleaned and halved)

1 lime

4 tsp paprika
4 tsp cumin
2 tbsp ground red pepper
4 tbsp Toasted Sesame Ginger Seasoning (my favorite brand of seasoning blends)*
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
5-7 skewers (wood or metal)
*substitute with sesame seeds, sesame oil and fresh garlic

 Defrost and rinse shrimp and toss into a mixing bowl. Add some salt and pepper. Add bell peppers, onion, mushrooms and mix up. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 the paprika, cumin, red pepper and toasted sesame ginger seasoning, the whole lime and lots of olive oil to the bowl. Add salt and pepper and mix to combine ingredients. Taste it! Add whatever you think it needs.

Add the marinade to the shrimp and vegetables. The vegetables should be coated in spices and oil. Coat your skewers in olive oil, and load them up with your marinaded shrimp and veggies!

Heat a grill pan over medium high heat and add the skewers. They should hiss when you put them down.

While the skewers are cooking, start the couscous. Bring 1 1/4 cup water and a splash of olive oil to a boil. Once boiling, mix in the couscous. Remove from the heat and cover. Let sit for 5 minutes.

When the couscous has rested 5 minutes, fluff with a fork. Add the remaining spices, a generous splash of good olive oil and salt and pepper.

The skewers will take about 10 minutes to cook. The vegetables should start to char a bit, and the shrimp will start to caramelize. I ended up removing some of the vegetables and shrimp from the skewers to allow them to get more direct heat. (This would ideally be done on a real grill... but since I live in a studio....)