With sauteed mushrooms, onions, peppers and zucchini and perfectly cooked garlicky pesto shrimp, topped with melty raclette cheese, this delicious healthy low carb dinner will take your taste buds to their happy place. There’s just something about melty cheese that just makes things taste so much better. I think raclette is probably the queen of melty cheeses–it totally elevates this simple dish.
Have you heard of raclette? I just recently discovered it … I saw it on facebook and I just HAD to experience it. It kept popping up on my timeline, calling to the cheese fanatic inside of me. When I saw that they were going to be at Plum’s Cooking Company doing a demo, I HAD to go. I told my (adult) kids about it … they’re lactose intolerant so they weren’t all that interested, but they agreed to go with me. The kids said they would wander around the store while I drooled over the cheese. Okay, those weren’t their exact words, but yeah, I was really anxious to meet this marvelous cheese. (Update: I have since discovered that raclette is lactose free. What fantastic news for the lactose intolerant!)
I was lucky to be the only person attending the demo at the moment, so I got a chance to talk to the Raclette lady. We chatted for a while … she shared her story and told me about raclette restaurants and I tried to keep myself from drooling as she dished up a little sample for me: some sauteed peppers over a nice slice of herbed bread with melty raclette cheese on top. One bite and oh. my. gosh. I was in love! I totally wanted some of that cheese. I asked her if she sold the cheese and yes, she does. Hurrah! I will definitely be purchasing cheese from her in the future. She also showed me this cool raclette grill that she sells as well that’s perfect for raclette parties. I would love to host one of those!
Anyway, I left her my contact info and told her I was a food blogger and I’d give her the name of my blog if she’d like to look at it. And then I went and gathered my kids and we went on our merry way.
A while later, I got an email from Sonja of Raclette Corner and here’s what she said:
“Hi Ann, I hope you enjoyed the raclette at Plum’s last Saturday. I finally got around to check out your blog and now I’m hungry! I will try some of your recipes soon. If you would like to experiment with Raclette on your own for a cheesy blog post let me know. I’d be happy to lend you a machine and get you some cheese.”
My heart skipped a beat! Yay, I get to play with RACLETTE! A couple days later, Sonja brought over a raclette grill (which you can use indoors all year round) and over a pound of raclette cheese, all neatly sliced into 1/4 inch slices that fit perfectly in the little cheese trays under the grill.
I know, some of you might be wondering: What is raclette? If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s an amazing melty cheese made in Switzerland and France.
According to cheese.com: “Raclette is a semi-hard cheese made on both sides of the French and Swiss Alps. Valais Raclette or Fromage a Raclette, as they are traditionally called, are made using ancestral methods with unpasteurised milk of cows grazing on the alpine meadows. The name Raclette comes from the French word ‘racler’, which means ‘to scrape’. The cheese has got a thin, brownish-orange coloured rind and a pale yellow pate with a few and scattered open holes. It is has a very distinctive pleasant, aromatic smell with a creamy texture, similar to Gruyere cheeses, which does not separate even when melted. The flavour can vary from nutty, slightly acidic to milky.”
The traditional raclette dinner typically involves little potatoes, deli meats, little pickles, and other veggies to grill and then top with cheese. I couldn’t help but think that raclette would go perfectly with pesto and shrimp … so I decided to give my little idea a test on the raclette grill.
This recipe is super simple … you don’t necessarily have to have a raclette grill to make it, but it makes it easier because you can cook the mushrooms, veggies and shrimp all directly on the grill. AND you could do this as a raclette party and let people cook their own! There are 8 cool little cheese trays that are tucked under the grill where you can melt individual portions of the raclette cheese.
You could serve this loveliness with potatoes or over pasta (or rice) … I try to limit my carbs, so I left them out and ate it just like this. Mmmm … I was in foodie heaven. I totally stuffed myself and couldn’t even eat it all, but I totally ate every last bit of shrimp and cheese and saved the rest of the veggies for the morning.
If you want to mix things up a bit, try using a different kind of pesto for marinating the shrimp. Here are several scrumptious pesto recipes:
- Sunflower Dill Pesto
- Spicy Cilantro Lime Pesto with Cashews
- Pesto Trapanese – a fresh tomato pesto
- Mixed Herb Pesto
- Chive Asparagus Pesto
- Pesto Rosso – a sun dried tomato pesto
- Asparagus White Bean Pesto
- Basil Lime Pesto
- Parsley Pesto – from Christine’s Pantry
- Thai Style Non Dairy Pesto – from This is How I Cook
- Lemon Oregano Pesto – from This is How I Cook
Grilled Pesto Shrimp w/Veggies & Raclette
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: as many as you like
Ingredients
For each serving of pesto shrimp:
- 4 oz. raw peeled shrimp, tail-on
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons pesto (store bought or homemade)
- 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
- Old Bay Seasoning
For the grilled veggies:
- Sliced baby bella mushrooms
- Cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine
- A bit of butter
- Thinly sliced vidalia onions
- Thinly sliced zucchini
- Mini sweet peppers (or bell peppers), cored and sliced into strips
- Red Robin Seasoning (or your favorite seasoned salt), Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute (or your favorite salt-free seasoning mix, such as Mrs. Dash) and Old Bay Seasoning
And the raclette: raclette cheese, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
Instructions
- Toss the shrimp with the pesto and olive oil. Let marinate for about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile prepare the veggies. Heat the raclette grill (or other indoor grill) over medium heat. Cover the surface with a smear of butter and when the butter gets bubbly, add the garlic to one side of the grill. Grill until the garlic is fragrant, then add the mushrooms over the garlic. Sprinkle with seasonings and cover with the lid to one of your medium pans. Uncover and stir several times, recovering each time and seasoning as needed, until the mushrooms are tender.
- On the other side of the grill, begin cooking the onions and zucchini until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the pepper strips and cook a while longer, until all the veggies are tender. Sprinkle with all of the seasonings.
- When the mushrooms are done, remove them from the grill, making space for the shrimp.
- Add the marinated shrimp (with pesto) and sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning. Cook for 1 – 2 minutes on each side, flipping when the shrimp is getting pink on the lower side. Remove the shrimp.
- Set the raclette cheese in the cheese holder sections of the grill and let them grill until good and melty. While the cheese is melting, move the veggies around on the grill, letting them soak in some of that lovely pesto flavor.
- To serve: Make a bed of veggies and mushrooms on your plate. Top with shrimp, then slide one serving of the raclette on top. Enjoy!
Notes
For the veggies: I used 3 cloves of garlic 8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, 3 mini sweet peppers and about 1/4 of a vidalia onion. This is probably enough veggies for two people for dinner.
RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/
© Copyright 2018, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Want more raclette recipes and tips?
I looked around the internet and found several raclette ideas, recipes, stories and party tips:
- Raclette Dinner and Dr. Who Sleepover
- How to Make Raclette – from Eat Little Bird
- Raclette: A Perfectly Simple Romantic Dinner Idea – from Cook the Story
- Strictly Raclette – Swiss “rules” for eating Raclette from Food Charmer
- Real Food Raclette Dinner Party – from KristaButler
Looking for more recipes using pesto?
Pesto is such a perfect compliment to cheese, but there are oh so many other ways to use pesto! Here are several delicious pesto recipes from me and my foodie friends:
- Flower Pot Pesto Swirl Bread – ChinDeep
- Pemberley Gardens Creamy Pesto Salad Dressing – ChinDeep
- Creamy Pesto Potato Salad – ChinDeep
- Pesto Meatballs and Marinara Sauce – Ally’s Kitchen
- Duck Breast and Cognac Duxelle Wonton Ravioli with Pomegranate Cognac Sauce and Pesto – The Black Peppercorn
- Baked Pesto Zucchini Arancini (rice balls)
- Pesto Parmesan Peppercorn Salad Dressing
- Pesto Spinach Shrimp Dip
- Cilantro Pesto Fish Tacos with Zucchini Corn Salsa
- Havarti, Cheddar and Chive Pesto Grilled Cheese
- Pesto Buttermilk Cucumber Salad
- Asparagus Pesto Rotini with Shrimp & Shrooms
This post was shared at Pretty Pintastic Party, Clever Chicks Bloghop and Full Plate Thursday.
1 comment
Your Pesto Shrimp will be a great recipe to try on the flat grill, looks delicious! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday. Hope you have a great weekend and come back soon!
Miz Helen