My daughter is moving to Santa Barbara, so in the past two weeks I have made two trips up there — I have found my new weekend getaway! WOW! The town is rustic, charming, quaint and unique; and has the best restaurants to be found! We purposed to not eat at any chain-type places and only ate at one-of-a-kind local haunts, and we were not disappointed.
At Pascucci’s, I ordered a shrimp dish they called “Palermo”: Large tiger shrimp stuffed with pesto, wrapped in prosciutto and grilled. It was an exquisite dish – and as is my custom, I came home with a desire to recreate!
I spent Friday at my good friend Linda’s house and decided to try my hand at this dish for lunch. We made pesto from scratch, but you can use a prepared pesto to save some time. If you want to make it from scratch, see here: Tina’s Pesto
- 16 large raw shrimp, in shell (I bought tiger shrimp)
- 1/4 cup pesto
- 8 slices prosciutto
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Shell shrimp but leave on tail. Butterfly the shrimp (cut almost all the way through the flesh down the center of the shrimp’s back). Insert a bit of the pesto into the opening and press closed.
Cut each slice of prosciutto in half lengthwise. Wrap each shrimp with a slice of prosciutto.
Heat a griddle to high and brush with the olive oil. Place the shrimp on the grill and cook approximately 2 minutes each side, until prosciutto is lightly browned and shrimp is cooked through. Serve hot and mangia bene!
Pesto Stuffed Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp
Photo Credits: Linda Marshall
Tags: linda marshall, mangia bene, mangia bene mama, mangiabenemama, pascucci's, pesto, prosciutto, santa barbara, santa barbara restaurants, shrimp, tina marino, weekend getaway
