Flavored oils go well with grilled things. Here's one for shrimp
that's unusual and easy and tasty. I'd be interested in other kinds.

Use the biggest shrimp you can find but don't marinate them in
anything. Let their natural flavor prevail, with a hint of smokiness
from the grill, then drizzle the seasoned oil over them when you serve
them.

Heat 1 cup olive oil (not extra virgin -- too wimpy) in a small
saucepan, add 2 TB achiote seeds (aka annato seeds) and simmer for 3
minutes. Strain out the seeds, return oil to pan. Add a handful of
garlic cloves (six to ten), sliced, and two dried ancho chiles,
chopped, to the warm oil. Let that sit while you peel, devein and
butterfly shrimp. When ready to grill, turn low heat on under oil and
cook until garlic is soft but not browned, maybe 3 to 5 minutes.

Brush the shrimp lightly with the oil, salt, and grill quickly. Two to
three minutes, depending on size. Drizzle a good quantity of the
flavored oil over the shrimp and serve with a lemon wedge. -aem

aem wrote:
> Flavored oils go well with grilled things. Here's one for shrimp
> that's unusual and easy and tasty. I'd be interested in other kinds.
>[snip]

Flavored oils also make for interesting rice. If you have oil left
after the above, strain it and store in a jar in the fridge. Then make
this rice:

Chop a small white onion, or half a large one, into a fine mince.
Heat 2 TB of the flavored oil in your rice pot and cook the onion over
medium heat until soft and translucent. Add long grain rice and stir
around for a couple of minutes until all is well coated with oil. Add
chicken broth in ratio 1.5 broth to 1 rice, bring to boil, let cook
until steam holes appear in rice. Then cover, reduce to lowest simmer,
and cook for 17 minutes (or so). Remove from heat, let sit a few
minutes, fluff with fork and serve. Optional: may add a bit of
skinned, seeded, chopped tomato when you add the broth. -aem

aem wrote:
> Heat 1 cup olive oil (not extra virgin -- too wimpy)

What kind of olive oil do you use? The extra virgin first cold pressed olive
oil I've used for years is quite green in color and far from wimpy.

Janet Puistonen wrote:
> aem wrote:
> > Heat 1 cup olive oil (not extra virgin -- too wimpy)
>
> What kind of olive oil do you use? The extra virgin first cold pressed olive
> oil I've used for years is quite green in color and far from wimpy.

It changes almost every time I buy olive oil; they are fun to
experiment with. I find "extra virgin" oil to be less robust (more
delicate, if you prefer) in flavor than "virgin." That makes "extra
virgin" especially good for salad dressings and brushing on
bread/bruschetta or drizzling on a finished dish, say, but for
sautéeing or this kind of flavored oil I prefer to use the 'virgin'
for the punchier flavor.

At the moment I'm using a Greek extra virgin and an Italian virgin.
Both good, but quite different from one another. -aem