Cilantro Garlic Lime Seafood Packets

One year. I have been writing this blog for one year. Fifty-two weeks of standing in my kitchen and telling you about my life, my food, my family, my grief, and my joy. Fifty-two weeks of typing with one finger on this iPad that Denise gave me, squinting at the screen, misspelling things, and not caring. Fifty-two weeks of ending every post with "Now go on and feed somebody" because that is what Hattie Pearl said every time she put a plate in front of you, and it is the truest sentence I know.

A year ago, I planted tomatoes and started typing. Since then: Earl had a cardiac scare and recovered. Kayla finished her junior year. Marcus found Tasha. I fed four hundred children a day and volunteered at the summer meal program and ran the Lowcountry Boil and sang in the choir and made more pots of soup than I can count. I buried no one this year, which is a mercy I do not take for granted, because the years before this one took James Jr., and the years before that took Hattie Pearl and James Sr. and Michael and Willie James. A year with no funerals is a year I hold close.

The garden is starting over. The cycle. New seedlings in the ground, new tomatoes reaching for the sun, new peppers and herbs and okra waiting their turn. Earl's garden — because it will always be Earl's garden, even though I'm the one with the dirt under my nails — is green and ready. The soil is soft from winter rain and warm from March sun, and I can see the whole summer laid out ahead of me like a meal I haven't cooked yet but already know the recipe for.

I made shrimp and grits for dinner tonight. The same recipe I made in Week 1. Stone-ground grits from Sapelo Island. Shrimp from the dock. Butter. Cheddar. The smell of the marsh through the open window. Earl in his chair. The skillet on the stove — Hattie Pearl's skillet, sixty-some years old, black as midnight and smooth as silk. I stood at the stove and I stirred and I thought about all the women who stood at stoves before me — Hattie Pearl, her mama, her mama's mama, back and back and back, all the way to kitchens I'll never know about, in places I'll never see, cooking food that tasted like survival and love and the stubborn refusal to let anyone go hungry.

I am sixty-one years old. I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a school cook, a church lady, a gardener, and a woman who talks to seedlings. I have lost more people than I should have and I have fed more people than I can count. My knees hurt. My back hurts. My heart is full. And I am not done.

Thank you for sitting at my table this year, baby. Thank you for reading. Thank you for cooking. The food matters. The people at the table matter more.

Now go on and feed somebody.

I said shrimp and grits, and I meant it — but what I really meant was the sea, and the dock, and the smell of the marsh coming through the window. After a year of cooking and writing and feeding and grieving and celebrating, I wanted something that carried that same spirit into a dish I could share with you — something bright and garlicky and alive, the kind of thing that smells like a summer evening on the water before you even open the foil. These Cilantro Garlic Lime Seafood Packets are everything the coast tastes like when you’re grateful to still be standing in your kitchen, stirring something good. Make them on the grill, make them in the oven, make them any night you want to feel like the world is generous and the food is honest.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs large shrimp, peeled and deveined (or a mix of shrimp and scallops)
2 ears of corn, husked and cut into 1-inch rounds
1 medium zucchini, sliced into half-moons
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped, plus more for serving
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 2 limes (about 3 tablespoons), plus lime wedges for serving
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
4 large sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil (about 18 inches each)

Instructions

Preheat your cooking surface. Heat a grill to medium-high (about 400°F) or preheat your oven to 400°F. Tear off four large sheets of heavy-duty foil and lay them flat on your counter.
Make the garlic lime butter. In a small bowl, stir together the minced garlic, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, smoked paprika, cumin, and red pepper flakes if using. Season generously with salt and black pepper.
Build the packets. Divide the corn rounds, zucchini, and bell pepper evenly among the four foil sheets, arranging them in the center. Top each with a generous portion of shrimp (and scallops if using). Spoon the garlic lime mixture evenly over each packet, then dot with pieces of butter.
Seal the foil. Fold the long sides of the foil up over the seafood and crimp tightly to seal. Then fold and crimp the ends to form a sealed packet. Leave a little air space inside so the steam can circulate and cook everything evenly.
Cook the packets. Place packets on the grill or on a baking sheet in the oven. Cook for 18–20 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and opaque and the vegetables are just tender. If grilling, you can turn the packets once halfway through.
Open and serve. Carefully open each packet — the steam will be hot. Transfer contents to bowls or plates, spoon all the juices from the foil over the top, and finish with fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Serve with crusty bread, rice, or stone-ground grits if you want to do it right.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cilantro Garlic Lime Seafood Packets — A Year of Feeding People, One Skillet at a Time