Baked Garlic and Butter Shrimp Recipe

Of all the seafood, I love lobster the most. There is a lot of sweet meat inside for the effort (unlike say crab) for me to use as a vehicle essentially for butter. Second place then goes to shrimp rather than crab because the ease of getting to shrimp meat, even though I have to eat more of them, makes it easy to enjoy without a lot of work.

Maybe I’m still bitter about the time I was eating crab and wondered why the red sauce was so watery on the plate and then realized even in death, a crab had fought back and cut me. And then that’s how I also learned, after wearing a bandage for a couple days, that I’m allergic to latex. It made sense in retrospect why I always hated the smell of Halloween/latex even before I had this knowledge.

My favorite way of having shrimp is via shrimp scampi. The second way is poached in butter, so really it’s still the same way… swimming in butter, the second most natural place for seafood to be besides in its home origin of water.

But, there is a way I can make it at home that doesn’t use a whole stick of butter. Instead it relies on just enough butter to add the flavor and help from panko and garlic.

Baked Garlic and Butter Shrimp Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 pound of fresh raw shrimp deveined and peeled. Your choice on whether to cook with the tails so you have something to hold, or remove them before you cook.
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1/2 a lemon: you will be using the juice from 1/2 a lemon plus 1/2 tablespoon of lemon zest
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 cup of panko
• 1/2 cup of grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley

Directions:

1. On the stovetop, saute the minced shallot until it is a little crispy. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine the shrimp, lemon juice, garlic, , shallot, salt and pepper. Pour into your baking dish (thanks Debbie! I use this gift all the time!) and arrange the shrimp so they are a single layer. I suppose you don’t really have to do this, but I do in order to get all the shrimpies to get the topping next…
   
3. In a separate bowl, mix the butter and lemon zest enough to blend and spoon onto each and every shrimp in your baking dish. Sprinkle on top the paprika, and then the panko, Parmesan and parsley.
   
4. Bake in the oven until the shrimp are pink, and the Parmesan has browned, about 10-15 minutes.

After this, you can eat this over brown rice or quinoa, or plain by itself with maybe a chilled glass of white wine?!

What is your favorite kind of seafood?