Sunday, January 20, 2008

Barbecue Shrimp

I went to Hong Kong Market yesterday looking for black cod and ended up with a pound of head-on jumbo shrimp. Yep, I'm an impulse food shopper.



After a good half hour of looking for recipes online (especially trying to find a recipe where would not have to go out and buy a lot of other ingredients) I came across this Barbecue Shrimp recipe from Nolacusine.com.

I'm not sure why it's called Barbecue Shrimp since you do not use barbecue sauce or a grill to cook it but the recipe is still a keeper and quick and relatively easy.

New Orleans Style Barbecue Shrimp Recipe

2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Fresh Thyme, chopped
1/2 tsp Fresh Oregano, chopped
1 tsp Fresh Rosemary, chopped
1/2 Cup Abita Amber beer, or another good quality beer (Allen went to Fiesta and bought some Abita instead of using the Miller Lite in the fridge...considering it only takes 1/4 cup for 1lb of shrimp I think he had ulterior motives.)
1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Crystal Hot Sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp Black Pepper, freshly cracked
3 Tbsp Italian Parsley, minced
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
Cayenne pepper to taste
2 lbs Head on/shell on shrimp

Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F.

Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until slightly browned. Add the fresh herbs and cook for 2 minutes. Deglaze with the beer, reduce by half. Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce, black pepper, kosher salt, cayenne pepper and the shrimp, tossing to coat well. Transfer the shrimp and sauce to a baking dish where the shrimp can bake in the sauce in a single layer. Place into the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Do not over cook the shrimp!

Serve in a large bowl with the chopped parley, your favorite beer, and lots of fresh French Bread for dipping in the sauce.



I cut off the heads before serving so we didn't have to deal with antennae and eyeballs at the table. Allen struggled with getting the shell off (and struggled with his dislike of having stuff on his fingers) and eating was more labor intensive than cooking -- so I'm glad I only got 1lb of shrimp (6-7 large shrimp each).

I also made Vigo red beans and rice because we had one link of Ted's venison sausage to use up and because Allen loves the stuff. (I froze the leftovers so he'll have something to eat while I'm out of town next weekend.) Along side the bread and butter it was a filling meal and a nice New Orleans style treat.

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