En Argentine, les crevettes sont reines – Crevettes sur canapés de patates douces grillées et sauce chimichurri

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It’s holiday season, therefore the perfect time for entertaining…I love that part of the year, have friends over, celebrating and making special treats for anyone who comes visit.  Holidays does not necessarily means heavy and rich food, and over indulging oneself either. Since I am quite focus on nutrition and strongly believe that fitness is the second most important thing after a healthy diet, I am always looking for creating delicious and light appetizers than one can nibble with a glass of Champagne, without feeling guilty about ruining your workout or gaining weight.

I discovered sweet potatoes when I came to the US. In France or Italy we use, mainly regular potatoes. I have been trying to substitute regular potatoes with sweet potatoes in some dishes and sometimes, the result is quite satisfying.

Those canapés are very tasty, the sweetness of the potato, is like a match in heaven with the spicy mint/cilantro/garlic sauce topping the shrimps. This is my own version of the Chimichurri  sauce from Argentina. If you have any leftovers, you can serve it with almost anything, grilled fish, grilled steak, I like to top it on a slice of grilled bread, and so on.

Ingredients for or about 12 canapés

  • 1 large sweet potato (about 20 cm long and 5cm diameter wide)
  • 12 uncooked medium size shrimps
  • Olive oil
  • Cider vinegar
  • Salt and pepper

For the sauce

  • half bunch mint
  • half bunch cilantro
  • 1/3 bunch Italian parsley
  • ¼ tsp. chili pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 1 ½ tbs cider vinegar
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

Peel the potato and slice in about 1 cm thick slices, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and place in the oven for broiling.  Do not place too close from broiler or the potatoes will burn and not cook. Broil for about 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes and slightly grilled but tender from the inside.

Sauté the shrimps in olive oil for a few minutes, add salt and pepper and set aside.

For the sauce, place all the ingredients, in a mixer, and blend to a medium-fine consistency. You still need to see the fine pieces of the herbs.

In a serving plate, place slices of potatoes, add a shrimp and top with ½ tsp of the sauce. Serve the remaining sauce in a small dish