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Tender, grilled spicy Spanish shrimp are best served over a bed of traditional Spanish rice on a hot summer day.

Spicy Grilled Spanish Shrimp

Grilled Spicy Spanish Shrimp

Before I dive into today’s recipe, I am going to go on a bit of a rant, so if you don’t want to read that, just scroll right on down to the recipe.

Last week, I was wasting time browsing through Instagram stories when I came across an influencer whining about… well, influencers. At the time, I wasn’t sure whether or not I should be insulted by her rambling, but the more I listened to what she was saying, the more I found herself agreeing with her.

Being an influencer is a tricky game that requires a bit of soul searching. There’s a lot of fast, easy money to be made out there, especially right now within the wine industry. If you flip through the latest issue of Food & Wine magazine, it’s easy to see what corporations are spending a lot of money advertising their wines. Throughout my time running this blog, I’ve agreed to a handful of sponsored wine campaigns with the understanding that I would only promote products that either myself or people I know and trust enjoy. For me, that’s meant having to choose between making money and my own morals.

Lately, there’s been an influx of food bloggers candidly posed with their glass of rosé from some winery they don’t usually consume. Oh, look at me with my perfectly styled hair and my smudge-free wine glass! That’s not how the real world works, and it’s not something I am about to sign up for. Sure, buried within the archives are fluff pieces about wine (“what to wear wine tasting”), but I’m not in the business of selling you a lifestyle of wine. My whole intention when I started this blog, and still continues to this day is to educate. (And if you do ever happen to see me posed with a wine glass standing in the middle of a vineyard, chances are I’m drunk, my husband posted it and I am not being compensated for it in any, way shape or form.)

If you’ve been around long enough, then you’ll probably remember me saying a time or ten how much I despised Pinot Noir. For the most part, I still do, but I’ve learned how to “dress it up” with different types of foods and flavors. Instead of convincing you that you should be drinking x-w-z with your perfect hair and smudge-free wine glass, I want to convince you that you have the confidence and knowledge to pair the food that you like with the wines that maybe you aren’t so crazy about. I don’t pretend to be an expert, I have no desire to become a sommelier and work in a restaurant hawking $14 bottles of wine at people and charging them $40.

I want you to be able to find one of my recipes and know what type of wine to pair with it, and why they pair with one another. Today’s grilled spicy Spanish shrimp recipe is a prime example of pairing based on region. Pair Spanish foods with Spanish varietals of wine, how easy is that?! Staying on theme, I have two Central Coast Spanish varietals for you to choose from today: a 2015 Tempranillo from Castoro Cellars that is just as delicious with paella as it is on these shrimp and one of my favorite Albariño wines from Scheid Vineyards that has just enough acidity to compete with the paprika spiced shrimp.

So, now that I have said what I’ve needed to say, let’s get this party started and get to what you came here for: a grilled Spanish spicy shrimp recipe.

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