Black Pepper Shrimp with Cucumber & Tomato Salad

July is proving to be cruel month. It is so miserably hot and humid outside that I find myself in the same predicament as I do in January...I don't want to go outside to grill. The last three night's dinners have all been prepared on my stove top. But I don't mind. The food is good. I stay cool. And thanks to chef Floyd Cordoza, this is what I will be making tonight.

Actually, his recipe works if you are using a cast iron pan or a grill. In lieu of suffering 70º dew points, I'll be using cast iron on the stove top. This recipe is from his restaurant, The Bombay Bread Bar in SoHo and it serves four. The cucumber and tomato salad is the perfect complement to the main dish and he includes a lime-yogurt sauce for dipping your shrimp. He recommends cooking the shrimp in their shells for the most moist and tender results.


Ingredients
2 tablespoons fresh ground black peppercorns
2 tablespoons ground coriander seed
7 tablespoons olive oil
24 shrimp, preferably with tails and shells intact
2 cups thinly sliced cucumber
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes or diced heirloom tomatoes
¼ cup sliced sweet onion
½ cup torn mint leaves
Zest and juice of 1-½ limes
Pinch of sugar
Kosher salt
½ cup whole-milk yogurt


Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together pepper and coriander with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Pat shrimp dry. Add shrimp to bowl and toss with seasonings until well coated. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 20 minutes. (Shrimp can marinate up to 24 hours.)
2. In a large bowl, toss together cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and mint. Season salad with ⅓ of the lime zest and juice, 2 tablespoons oil, sugar and salt to taste.
3. In a small bowl, stir together yogurt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season with lime juice, lime zest and salt to taste.
4. Heat a grill to medium-high or set a large cast-iron pan on stove over medium-high heat. Brush pan or grill with remaining oil. Season shrimp with a pinch of salt. When cooking surface is hot but not smoking, cook shrimp until opaque and curled into a “C,” 2-3 minutes per side. Remove shrimp from heat and season with lime juice. Serve with tomato salad and yogurt sauce on the side.

Wine pairing: For this meal, you want a big, oaky Chardonnay. Try a Talley, Rombauer or Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve.

Grogs and Goldie, 1956