Pan Seared Shrimp, Roasted Red Potato Slices, and Mixed Greens

Globe Fish Co had Gulf shrimp at the Farmer’s Market.  Pricy, but I could not resist.  And it was delicious! I found an easy recipe on recipezarr.com that is basically the same as the one I found on the Cook’s Illustrated site. Here it is:

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoo lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined (21/25 count)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar

1. Beat butter with a fork in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in garlic, lemon juice, parsley and 1/8 tsp salt until combined. Set aside.
2. Heat 1 tbs oil in a 12-inch skillet over high heat until smoking. Meanwhile toss shrimp, salt, pepper and sugar in a medium bowl. Add half of shrimp to pan in a single layer and cook until spotty brown and edges turn pink, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; using tongs, flip each shrimp and let stand until all but very center is opaque, about 30 seconds. Transfer shrimp to a large plate.
3. Repeat with remaining oil and shrimp; after second batch has stood off heat, return first batch to skillet along with flavored butter and toss to combine. Cover skillet and let stand until shrimp are cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges if desired.

Here is a close-up of the meal:

The combination worked well – even with the bits of ham flavoring the collard greens.  I will post that recipe separately and date it so it appears below this post, after the mozzarella post. And, you’ll find the potato recipe in the 7/19/09 Halibut post.

This meal was easy to create.  I started the collard greens first.  Once there were allin the pot and simmering, they needed no more attention.  And, once they simmered for 45 minutes to and hour, I put them on low and could have left them for hours.  Very handy recipe for when you are trying out a new entree!  The potatoes are also easy and forgiving as to timing.  I prepared and roasted them for 15 miutes at 350 and then left them until giving them a final 5 minute blast at 400 when it was time to serve.  Of course, you need a toaster oven or a quick heating convection oven to do it this way.  You can always roast them and then turn the oven to warm until serving time.

I then peeled and deveined the shrimp.  Very easy to do.  I just used my kitchen scissors to ship the shell and my finger to get the vein out, patted them dry, and put them in the fridge until I was ready to cook them. I also made  the garlic butter ahead of time.  Note on that: it says to “beat” the butter.  the word “mashed up” better describes the process I used.  I wonder if they recipe meant to instruct us to melt, rather than soften the butter?  In any case, mashing worked just fine.  <grin>

Then the time came to fire up the frying pan.  The process went by so quickly that I forgot to take pictures!  All the shrimp (14 of them to one pound) fit at one time, so I could skip transfer any to another plate.  I reduced amounts of ingredients a bit, to, since the recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 pounds of shrimp.

I’ll certainly make shrimp this way again!  I bet good quality shimp from the grocery store would be fine in the recipe, too.  I’ve heard that Trader Joes has great shrimp.  Not sure of the environmental and/or health safety of their source, but then again, I am not sure of that of these Gulf Shrimp, either.  If anyone knows, let me know!