Grilled Shrimp Papillote with Mango-Avocado Salsa

I blinked and it was May... already halfway through May at that! It's been hard to find spare minutes lately but I finally convinced myself to sit down to create time that isn't solely dedicated to wedding planning. Mr. Max and I made this dish a week or so ago and it was such a refreshing dinner packed with super foods and a taste of summer! For this recipe, we've got spinach, quinoa, shrimp, cilantro, mango salsa, avocado.... all wrapped up in a foil packet, set on a grill and you've got dinner 15 minutes later!

I haven't played with foil packets since the very first post, the halibut en papillote. Here is your "I learned something new today" nugget of wisdom: en papillote is french for pouch, or in parchment. It's a great cooking method that uses the liquids from food to steam and cook in a package. The recipe I found for this creation used couscous, but in my adaptation, I replaced with quinoa instead.

This was a fun one, but don't be discouraged if you do not have a grill or simply don't want to take the effort to use it. If it weren't for the E-grill, I would feel the same way. I gave Mr. Max a Weber for Christmas a few years ago and we hardly ever use it. Sad. The foil packets cook in the oven too, so there is your solution! Whole Foods had a great little mango/pineapple salsa like relish in their fresh produce section that already included those obvious ingredients, red bell pepper, tomato, onion and jalepeno pepper so I saved time and money by grabbing that instead of each ingredient individually.

Nutritional facts can be found here, calculated at SparkRecipes.com; it is 9 points for Weight Watchers.

Grocery List:
Recipe Yields 2 servings
Adapted from Self Magazine

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 3 tbsp. water
• 1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined 
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Olive oil
• 1 cup of fresh chopped mango salsa (diced mango, pineapple, red onion, tomato, red bell pepper and jalepeno or poblano pepper)
• 1 small avocado, cubed

Start by pre-heating your grill to a medium-high heat. If you are going to do this in the oven, I guesstimate a temperature of 400 degrees in the oven. Take aluminum foil and tear out two pieces about 18-in long, then fold in half to create a line in the foil. Unfold and coat with non-stick cooking spray. On each piece of foil, arrange 1 cup of spinach.

In a small bowl, mix the water and the quinoa together in a bowl. By adding water, we are helping the quinoa to have something to absorb as it cooks on the grill. It will become magically fluffy in the end!

Now, add the quinoa on top of the spinach. The spinach naturally produces moisture as it cooks, this will allow the quinoa to cook even more. 

In another small bowl, mix the olive oil, lime juice and cilantro with the shrimp. 

Lay that next to the quinoa on the foil. 

Fold over that unused half from earlier and begin to crimp the edges, folding each in, to create and enclosed packet. 

 .... like-a-so.

I put our foil packets on a grill basket then set on the grill with the timer at 15 minutes. 

When the timer goes off, the packets will be slightly puffed. Cut them open carefully to reveal wilted, cooked spinach, fluffy quinoa and delicious shrimp! 

Take your mango salsa/relish concoction and scoop half over one packet, half over the other, and add diced avocado. Using a fork, gently mix the contents of the packet and dig in! 

Tastefully yours,