Bloody Caesar! Excuse The Outburst.

Bloody Caesar Shrimp & Chorizo Pilaf

In today's video, I do a pretty good job of playing dumb about what a "Bloody Caesar" is. That's because I'd never heard of it until my husband handed me a printed recipe from The Lemon Apron blog for Bloody Caesar Shrimp & Chorizo Pilaf. It's not hard to guess that a Bloody Caesar must be something like a Bloody Mary, though. A quick online search confirmed that the primary difference between the two drinks is the use of Clamato instead of tomato juice. So, for the first time ever, a bottle of Clamato juice was introduced to the CoolGray kitchen. I was pretty sure it would be vile. I can be that way sometimes. But, that aside, I'm also pretty good about experimenting, so we made the dish.

I also purchased some chorizo, which is not something I would typically have in unless it was part of a meat & cheese board at one of our holiday parties. But, I know that pork and shrimp like to hang out together in bowls of food, even though they'd never be caught dead together otherwise. With all the controversy settled, we were ready to cook!

Reading through the recipe, we knew the shrimp would have to cook with the rice for half an hour, and, since our shrimp were a bit smaller than the gimungus tiger shrimp called for, we left them frozen in hopes that they would cook through, but not become tough. That worked out beautifully. In fact, after reheating leftovers in the microwave, the shrimp were still succulent and tender, while the chorizo did become a bit too chewy. The biggest modification we made was the omission of both the red pepper flakes and cayenne. We were confident the chorizo would supply plenty of zing and we're not big spicy food eaters. There's also a little prepared horse raddish in the dish, which doesn't add heat but does help enhance the liveliness of the overall flavor profile.

With all that sharpness, the fluffy rice had a creaminess from cooking in the Clamato which was made a perfect balance. The finish with fresh-squeezed lemon juice, sliced olives, and chopped parsley contributed a freshness that brought the dish together in a really beautiful way! Our hats are off to Jennifer at The Lemon Apron for a delicious recipe we'll surely make again. Because it is her recipe and not mine, I won't publish it here. But, you should definitely visit her blog and read it over there. And, our modified version can be found in the description box of this video on my YouTube channel. Watch us make it together and taste it for the first time.

'Til next time, I am CoolGray.