Monday, June 9, 2014

How to Roast a Shrimp


LOL! That sounds like a cozy mystery title.

I love roasting. It has so much to commend it. Vegetables and meats cook beautifully and take on a fabulous flavor. Even better, while the food is roasting the cook can nap, er, I mean do other things like wash dishes. Yeah, that's it, wash dishes and peel carrots. I never cook asparagus or cauliflower anymore because they're so much better roasted.

But it never occurred to me to roast shrimp. You know me, I had to try. Turns out that they're fabulous! So quick and easy. Super for shrimp salads. Honestly, roasting is easier than cooking shrimp in a pan because there's less chance of over-cooking or under-cooking. This will be my go-to method for cooking shrimp from now on.

The only drawback is that they're roasted at 425 degrees, which would burn garlic to a crisp. So if you're a fan of shrimp with garlic, you'll have to stick with pan cooking or make a garlic sauce to pour over the shrimp.

On this particular day I was cooking for someone who can't eat spicy food. After the shrimp was cooked, I sprinkled mine with Chesapeake Bay Spice, and it was delicious. Next time I have company and need a quick appetizer, I'm sprinkling the shrimp with Chesapeake Bay Spice before cooking. Bet it's wonderful!


How to Roast a Shrimp

1 large baking pan with a lip
shrimp
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Peel the shrimp and place on a large baking pan. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Use a big spoon to turn them several times to coat them. Spread them out in a single layer, preferably not touching each other. Roast 10 minutes.

Note: I used large shrimp. I assume that very small shrimp might need a shorter cooking time. Ours were perfect.


Drizzle with oil and season.

Done in 10 minutes!



8 comments:

  1. Krista - LOL with you on the cozy title. This is a brilliant idea. Boiling shrimp is my usual method, and I'll add spices and flavoring to the water, but I'm intrigued by your roasting idea, which makes adding spices before the roasting a creative prospect. I'm looking forward to trying it. Thanks for sharing and congrats again on your new release of THE DIVA WRAPS IT UP! ~ Cleo

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    1. Thanks, Cleo! I hope you're as thrilled as I am. It's just so easy. And because they only take 10 minutes, I popped the entire baking sheet of raw shrimp, ready the oven, in the fridge for a few minutes while I prepared everything else. So convenient!

      ~Krista

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  2. This sounds great! I'm turned off by soggy shrimp. Love grilled. This should give the taste of grilling without having to fire up the grill, put the shrimp on skewers, cook them, clean the grill and skewers.
    I must try it.

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    1. Let me know what you think, Libby. This should cure the soggy shrimp issue. I can imagine all kinds of spices to dress them up.

      ~Krista

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  3. Shrimp are my go-to quick weeknight meal so I have to try this. I was thinking about black bean and corn salad for tonight, too! Grilled an extra ear of corn on Saturday for it.

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    1. Pass the grilled corn, please! Yum! Sounds like a wonderful dinner. Let me know what you think if you roast the shrimp.

      ~Krista

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  4. Simple and elegant! Altogether divalicious. Thanks, Krista!

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    1. This is one of those things that's so obvious I can't believe it never occurred to us before!

      ~Krista

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