OK, I know that "Hyperbole" is my middle name, but one night last week I may have made the best thing ever...
No, really!
I had shrimp and an abbondanza of chives and, thinking of combinations, I decided that grilled shrimp on a nest of fresh chive pasta with an Asian dipping sauce-style sauce poured atop was the way to go... And vaguely Vietnamese seemed the direction to get there!
I marinated 12 peeled and deveined shrimp in red pepper flakes, smoked salt, minced garlic and some peanut oil salvaged from a jar of natural peanut butter...
Then I made a batch of chive pasta...
http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/happy_birthday_marcia_kiesel__fresh_chive_pasta/
I made a "dipping sauce" by combining:
1T soy sauce
1t fish sauce
1t sriracha
1t sesame oil
1t microplaned ginger
4 minced scallions (white and green)
1t microplaned garlic
The juice and zest of 1/2 lime
1T peanut butter dissolved in 1T vodka (you can use water if you don't want to use the vodka, but the vodka adds a really surprising edge). Taste the sauce, remembering that it will sauce all of the pasta, not just the shrimp.
While the pasta cooks, grill the shrimp in a grill pan that's reeeeeally hot for about 1 1/2 minutes per side.
Drain the pasta, reserving some pasta water in case you want to add it to the sauce.
Place a serving of pasta on a plate. Top with 6 shrimp. Pour half the sauce over the top.
Eat.
Be prepared to laugh out loud.
It's that good!