Variations on a Shrimp

I love shrimp.  I love all seafood and shellfish, but shrimp is a lot easier to get my hands on than, say, soft shell Maine lobster or Pemaquid oysters, so I love shrimp.  I could bore you to death with the Forrest Gump recitation of all the different ways to prepare shrimp, but I won’t do that to friends.  Instead, here are 2 (only 2!) quick and easy flavor combinations that I like to fall back on when I’m short on time (read as: when Josh is screaming for food, hanging on to my pants as I try to make it to the fridge without falling over).

 

1.  Shrimp + soy sauce + honey + garlic + cilantro.

 

The quantities do not need to be exact here, as it’s more of a marinade, so I’m going to guess:

 

1 package of shrimp – 1lb?

4 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs honey

3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced.  Or as much garlic as you can handle, minced.

1/2 C chopped fresh cilantro – in this case, the dried stuff just won’t work

 

Preheat the oven to 350.

Thaw out and peel/devein the shrimp – up to you if you want to leave the tail on.  Then throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Make sure to break up the honey, so you won’t get clobbered with a mouthful of honey on a single shrimp.  You can let the mixture sit to absorb more flavors, but if you’re in a rush, you can just move right along and put them on a baking sheet in a single layer and pop into the oven.  Six minutes later, your shrimp should be pink and ready to eat.  If they look a bit translucent, let them cook a minute or two more.  These are great for appetizers!

 

 

2.  Shrimp + ketchup.  Blink…yep, you read that right.

 

1 package of shrimp, thawed, shelled and deveined

1 inch of ginger, sliced

1/2 C of scallions, cut into 1 inch chunks

1 big clove of garlic, sliced or minced

3 Tbs ketchup.  We prefer Heinz.

couple Tbs of cooking oil

 

Heat the cooking oil in a pan/wok over medium high heat.  Add ginger, garlic, scallion and cook for 1 minute. Add shrimp and cook until just pink.  Squirt a healthy dose of ketchup into the pan.  I’m guessing about 3 Tbs, but I really just squirt and toss until the dish as a nice rosy color.  Toss well.  Let the shrimp hang out in the pan a couple more minutes to make sure everybody is fully cooked.  Serve warm, with rice.

If you try these recipes, let me know how they come out, and if you enjoyed them!