Bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops

I visited my fabulous in-laws recently down in Florida and was treated to a lovely dinner at Marlin Darlin in Largo. The most amazing thing on the menu was having a pretty decent set of options for making a paleo or primal meal that my son and I could eat. The drinks were delicious and the bacon wrapped shrimp was wonderful. Their version was served with a round of jasmine rice and parmesan cheese and a sauce that had gluten in it. Obviously, I skipped the sauce but I did try the cheese and rice...once in awhile you have to cheat a little to get the full food experience at a restaurant. 

My version uses a vegetable mix to replace the rice and keeps the flavor in season. I used Argentinian shrimp and local North Carolina scallops with plain jane bacon. This took about 25 minutes from start to finish which is doable on a regular night of the week. I will certainly be making this one again soon. It was a big hit with both my husband and my son...as evident by his hand reaching for more.

Ingredients:

• For two people: 12-24 shrimp and a few scallops (optional)
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper
• 1/4 red onion
• 8-10 pieces of bacon
• 1/2 bundle asparagus
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 tbl minced garlic
• salt, pepper
• 1 tsp ginger powder or some grated ginger

Prep:

Heat your oven to 450F and get a skillet to medium heat. Cut the bacon into thirds. Take one of the strips and chop into bite sized pieces and place in the skillet. This piece will be cooked down to provide the grease for the veggies. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and wrap the peeled and deveined shrimp with the 1/3 bacon pieces. Place these on a greased aluminum foil covered pan. Meanwhile, cut the veggies up into small pieces. I did the onion first, then the bell peppers since they take the longest to cook down. Cut the asparagus into 1/4 pieces. The squash was easy do into rounds then quarter from there.

Cook:

In the skillet cook the onion and pepper for 3 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Once that is complete, place the shrimp into the oven at 450 for 8-10 minutes. Back in the skillet, add the asparagus, garlic, salt, pepper, ginger and squash. Cook down until the squash is soft enough to eat. This takes about as long as the shrimp takes, 8 minutes. 

Serve: Serve warm and immediately, no one likes to have to microwave their seafood. I put a little parmesan cheese on my husbands to try it out but he said he didn't need it. That lets me know it was good :)