Peel and Eat Shrimp with Garlic Butter

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Sometimes when you begin to write a recipe all you can think about is immediately eating it, the name just sounds so delicious. There is nothing I do not like about the words ‘Peel and Eat Shrimp with Garlic Butter’. How could you resist? Cooking the Shrimp in their shells gives them even more flavor. Yes it may be a bit more work to eat but it’s a fun interactive experience. Get a bunch of paper towels at the ready and dive in!

Like all seafood the key to a great dish is the quality of the produce. If you live near the ocean you’re a very lucky person – head down to your local fishmonger early and pick up what’s fresh. If not, that’s ok you can find some brilliant seafood in land locked states. Honestly, some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten was in landlocked states! The key is to make sure the seafood smells fresh, no fishy smells but they smell of the sea – salty sea watery goodness

How to make Peel and Eat Shrimp

This dish is quite an easy one to make. It’s just a matter of adding ingredients to layer flavors at the right time. Start with a hot pan and add your Butter, Shallots, Garlic, and Chili. Cook that down for a little bit, then add the White Wine. Let the alcohol burn off and then in goes the Shrimp!

Let those gorgeous Shrimp cook in this wonderful buttery, Wine Sauce until they’re cooked all the way through. Depending on the size of your Shrimp this could take anywhere from 2 minutes to 6 minutes. You’ll be able to tell when the Shrimp is cooked is they will have turned a wonderful pinkish-brown color

Peel and Eat Shrimp are best served immediately but beware they will be hot so treat cautiously when peeling to avoid your fingers being burnt! Make sure that you pour all that wonderful Butter Sauce from the Pan all over the Shrimp as you serve them. The amount of flavor in the sauce is immense, and by itself it tastes amazing

When eating the Shrimp, you’ll need to be aware of the intestinal tract (poop shoot!) that will be on the back of the Shrimp. It’s a simple method to remove it. Once you peel the Shrimp you can simply run your finger through the back, starting from where the head was, and pick it out. It’s not harmful to eat, but it’s also not pleasant to eat, so please remove it!

What is the best Shrimp to use for Peel and Eat Shrimp

You have a wide variety of choices when it comes to Shrimp and Prawns, and a lot of the times it depends on what part of the world you’re in. For this recipe we used Tiger Shrimp, which were extremely fresh and massive! Our advice would be to head down to your local Fish Monger and take a look at what is on display. If you’re anything like us, your eyes will naturally be drawn to the best-looking ingredients. 9 out of 10 times we’re recommending going with your gut and choose the Shrimp that’s calling your name!

Another good piece of advice (and probably one you should do every time) is have a chat to the Fish Monger and ask them what their recommendation would be. They will know what the freshest Shrimp is, as well as what will work best for a Pan-Fried Shrimp dish such as this

Our only mandatory is that you purchase the Shrimp whole. This dish requires the full Shrimp to be cooked at once, so please avoid the peeled, and avoid the cooked Shrimp! Cooking the Shrimp whole not only adds a fun, interactive experience to the meal, but it adds so much flavor to the dish

 There is so much flavor in the Shrimp shell, particularly in the head. Cooking it whole will infuse all of that Shrimp flavor into the Butter. Trust us, it will taste 100 times better cooking them whole

It’s not a mandatory, but we highly recommend serving your Peel and Eat Shrimp with some good, crust bread

There are very few dishes we’d suggest that adding Bread as a side would be a bad choice. It’s such a great addition to a meal where there is a sauce involved. Get some good quality crusty bread and break off large chunks at the table when you’re devouring these wonderful Peel and Eat Shrimp. Use the bread to mop up that wonderful sauce for the most amazing flavor you can imagine

Given the portions of Shrimp and the addition of Bread, this dish could easily be served up as a main course on its own. It’s a hearty, tasty meal that is perfect to eat all year round. Just get some good quality Shrimp and get cooking!

Peel and Eat Shrimp with Garlic Butter Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 Large Whole Shrimp or Prawns
• 2 Shallots, finely chopped
• 4 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
• ½ cup White Wine
• 4 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
• 1 Red Chili, seeded and finely chopped
• ½ cup Parsley, chopped
• Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Melt 1 tbsp. Butter in a large frypan over medium heat then add your Shallots and cook until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add the Garlic and Chili and cook for another minute then add the Wine
2. Once the Wine has reduced by about half add the remainder of the butter. Once melted stir to incorporate all the flavors into the butter then add the Shrimp. Depending on the size of the Shrimp you may need to cook them in batches, try not to overload the pan as the temperature will drop too much and they won’t cook well
3. Cook the Shrimp for 2-3 minutes on each side until they are beautiful and pink. I find Shrimp a very forgiving protein, so if you cook them a little under or a little over it’s still perfectly lovely to eat
   
   

4. Place the Shrimp in a large serving bowl, pour the sauce from the pan over the top, sprinkle over a pinch of Salt and serve with some crusty, buttery bread
5. When eating just be sure to dig out the black vein running along the back of the shrimp. It’s edible however not the best taste or texture so we’d recommend removing, which is a simple process of peeling the shrimp then running your finger down the back of the shrimp. Messy but easy!
   
   

We hope you’ve enjoyed making this delicious Peel and Eat Shrimp with Garlic Butter recipe. Please feel free to comment below on how it went, as we’d love to hear from you! If you enjoyed this dish we’ve got plenty of amazing Seafood recipes for you. Here are a few of our favorites that we recommend you try:

• Shrimp Cocktail
• Spot Prawn Ceviche with Garlic and Chili
• Holiday Seafood Platter
• Raw Scallop Ceviche
  
  

Happy Cooking!