Here you'll find delicious recipes for any occasion. The perfect recipe is just minutes away!

The Blue Whale dinner menu

A family dinner menu featuring Oven Shrimp Trio to accompany the children’s book The Blue Whale by Jenni Demond.

The Blue Whale family dinner menu from ChefSarahElizabeth.com

This month’s theme for Family Dinner Book Club is Whales, and our lead book is The Blue Whale by Jenni Desmond. Here you’ll find a menu that can be prepared with the help of your children. Head over to Growing Book by Book for a full reading list of books about Whales. Then visit Sunny Day Family for family activity ideas. We invite you to share a picture from your dinner with us anytime during the month on our Family Dinner Book Club Facebook or Instagram page!

The Blue Whale is a fantastic book to teach kids (and adults!) all about blue whales. This book is filled with interesting facts and makes you really stop and think about how we can protect our oceans and the creatures who live there.

The diet of a whale is made up of a whole bunch of krill, a shrimp-like fish. So our dinner this month is a meal fit for a blue whale! Oven Shrimp Trio. That is, shrimp cooked three different ways in the oven. Whenever you are going to buy and enjoy shrimp, or any seafood, make sure you are choosing sustainable varieties. Wild caught is the first step to sustainability, and wild caught shrimp from the US and Mexico are the best options to help protect our oceans.

Add a ginger seaweed salad and sparkling cherry lemonade to round out this special sea-themed menu the blue whales would approve of. As you can see in the photo, I like to serve a small salad to everyone, but also serve the ingredients separated for everyone to choose their favorite veggies from the bunch. Sometimes a salad all mixed together is overwhelming for the kids, so letting them choose their own veggies from a platter is a way to ensure they’re getting something nutritious in their bodies.

The Blue Whale
Family Dinner Book Club
Menu

Oven Shrimp Trio (recipes below)
Dipping Sauces: thai sweet chili, cocktail, crushed pineapples
Ginger Seaweed Salad
Sparkling Cherry Lemonade
Blue Whale Cheesecake

Oven Shrimp Trio recipe from ChefSarahElizabeth.com
Yield: 2 pounds

Oven Shrimp Trio

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Shrimp prepared three ways - all baked in the oven.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined, divided into thirds
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and divided in half
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • pinch ground cinnamon
  • pinch ground allspice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon minced parsley

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425F
  2. In a baking dish, mix together 1/2 stick melted butter, minced garlic, and zest of 1 lemon. Add 1/3 of the shrimp and toss to coat evenly. Season with kosher or sea salt. Cover the dish with foil and set aside.
  3. In a separate baking dish, mix together the remaining 1/2 stick melted butter, mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, ground ginger, sweet paprika, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Season with kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover the dish with foil and set aside.
  4. Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray. Set out 3 shallow bowls. In one bowl, beat the two eggs. Place the shredded coconut and the flour in 2 separate bowls. Season the shrimp with kosher or sea salt. Dredge each shrimp in the flour, then dip in the beaten eggs, then coat with the shredded coconut. Place the coated shrimp on the prepared baking sheet and spray with the cooking spray.
  5. Place all 3 shrimp dishes in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Stir the shrimp in the two dishes to coat evenly, cover and place back into the oven. Flip the coconut shrimp over and place back into the oven. Continue baking until the coconut is golden brown and all the shrimp are cooked through, about 10 more minutes. Sprinkle the minced parsley on top of the garlic shrimp.
  6. Serve with thai sweet chili sauce, crushed pineapples, and cocktail sauce.

8 thoughts on “The Blue Whale dinner menu”

  1. This really looks amazing! I like the 3 options and variety of dipping sauces so everyone can find a kind they like. And it goes well with the blue whale theme! I can’t wait to try out this menu.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Sparkling Cherry Lemonade - Chef Sarah Elizabeth Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe