Spicy Tiger Shrimp Scampi a la plancha

Part of the rationale for the themeless freeform food blog name was the fact that I really don't know what I'm doing ... I'm not a Culinary Institute of America grad, didn't intern under Thomas Keller, and have no restaurant experience worth mention ... but, I really dig the creative pallet the kitchen affords, find fulfillment in preparing good food for my family, and welcome the opportunity to escape the pressures of the day over a hot stove or noshing at a restaurant that's worth the money, no matter the fare. Nonetheless, Gastronomic Guesswork occasionally means that second part dominates the situation with occasionally dire consequences. Witness below what happens when you get a new grilling stone for your birthday, don't have the directions, and decide to saute shrimp on a 500F+ surface.

From gastronomic guesswork

Anyway, this was an epic failure, some of the shrimp was leather, some raw. The middle bits were edible, so we got about 3 bites out of the whole preparation. Flavor was great (just garlic, lemon, chili flake, white wine), so I definitely will revisit this Spanish / Italian method of preparation, especially for seafood: it's called a la plancha in Spanish and a la piastra in Italian. But I might have to wait a while, apparently the severe temperature change of leaving the stone on the grill when it's 10F outside makes the stone crack. Ok that's two failures in one go ... on the upside, two tips on getting the best shrimp for the landlocked: at whole foods you can ask for the large prawn tiger shrimp (from Vietnam) still frozen, way better than the fresh, previously frozen stuff; just ask 'em to dig out a few from the back; second, this might sound crazy, but the Kirkland brand at Costco (peeled raw and frozen) are always perfect, still frozen at whole foods is great but definitely my second choice.