It’s Shrimp Weather

Kay Chun’s salt and pepper shrimp rolls.Credit…David Malosh for The New York Times

Good morning. The air’s been thick of late where I live, heavy with moisture, as if the whole state’s been covered with blankets soaked in hot water. It’s giving Houston, as my kids would phrase it, or South Louisiana. This inspires a kind of Gulf Coast blues. The humidity approaches liquidity. It threatens to boil.

It’s shrimp weather, in other words. This time of year I like them simply grilled, or fried for exemplary salt and pepper shrimp rolls (above). They’re terrific folded into tacos or chopped into burgers. Alison Roman has an excellent recipe for shrimp Louie, a take on the classic crabmeat salad. You could consider barbecue shrimp to recall New Orleans, where oppressive, muggy-moist heat is summer’s calling card.

Featured Recipe

Salt and Pepper Shrimp Rolls

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Or you could make summer rolls, no recipe required. All you need is shrimp, cucumber, carrot, jalapeño, mint, cilantro, basil, vermicelli noodles and some rice-paper wrappers, often packaged as “spring roll wrappers.”

Shred the carrot and slice the cukes into batons. Coin the jalapeño and discard the seeds (or not!). Cook the vermicelli and shock it in cold water. Poach the shrimp gently, then give them the same treatment you gave the noodles before peeling and tailing. Pick the leaves off the herbs and arrange them prettily on a platter, next to the vermicelli, next to the vegetables, next to the shrimp.