Grilled Shrimp Cocktail with Fresh Tomato Cocktail Sauce
Give shrimp cocktail a seasonal, smoky upgrade with this recipe, an ideal appetizer for summer dinner parties and cookouts. The shrimp are marinated in a bright, lemon-garlic mixture that gets a kick from crushed red pepper. Make sure to pat them dry after peeling and deveining them, so they don't water down the marinade; this also helps them achieve a nice char when they're grilled. The cocktail sauce echoes the lemony notes from the shrimp, and features a combination of fresh tomato and smoked sun-dried tomatoes (feel free to swap in regular sun-dried tomatoes if needed). A mix of harissa, sherry vinegar, and hot sauce gives the slightly chunky sauce a nice acidic balance, too. Any leftover shrimp work nicely in a green salad, tossed with cooked orzo, or in a sandwich.
- 1 ½ pounds large peeled, deveined raw shrimp, tail-on
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoons grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh juice (from 2 lemons), divided
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for bread slices and drizzling
- 2 tablespoons grated garlic (from 8 large garlic cloves), divided
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
- ⅓ cup julienne-cut smoked sun-dried tomatoes (from 1 [3-ounce] package), chopped (about 1/3 cup)
- 3 tablespoons mild or spicy harissa paste (from 1 [10-ounce] jar)
- 1 ½ tablespoons sherry vinegar
- 2 cups chopped red tomato (from 1 large [12-ounce] tomato)
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
- Cooking spray
- 12 (1/4-inch-thick) baguette slices (3 ounces total)