Grilled Chipotle Shrimp with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website and modified it to ingredients that I had on hand, eliminating the brown sugar from the original recipe and substituting Splenda.  It was terrific.  You can go with any kind of jumbo shrimp, but the frozen variety already peeled and deveined is convenient and totally delicious. The dish can be made as an appetizer or an entree, the latter of which was my choice, served with my Asparagus Prosciutto Rolls.  The shrimp can be cooked over hot coals, a gas grill, under the broiler or as I did them, in a grill pan.  The benefit of doing the grill pan method is that you are left with some delicious pan juices that only enhanced the flavor and presentation of the dish at dinnertime.

Ingredients
For the Shrimp
2 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup Splenda
2 tbsp Chipotle chili powder
4 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp water
juice of one fresh lime
4 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)

Ingredients

For the Dipping Sauce

1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 cup fresh chopped cilantro
2 tsp minced garlic
grated zest of one lime
1/2 tsp lime juice
dash of onion powder
salt & pepper

The Recipes

First, make the marinade:

Mix the Splenda, water, Chipotle chili powder, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a jar or mixing bowl.  Shake or whisk well.

Drain the shrimp well and pat dry with paper towels.  Then, pour the marinade over the shrimp in a zip-lock bag and marinate in the refrigerator for two hours.

In the mean time, make the dipping sauce:

Mix the sour cream, mayonnaise, cilantro, garlic, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper and the dash of onion powder in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Place the sauce in the refrigerator for the same two hours as the marinating the shrimp.  It will give the flavors time to amalgamate and the cilantro to fully steep into the sauce.

Finally, assemble the dish:

In a hot grill pan, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, cook the shrimp for 2-3 minutes on each side until they look their transparency and start to take on a bit of char.

Arrange the shrimp on your plate around a generous dollop of the dipping sauce, and drizzle the pan gravy over the shrimp before serving.