Nothing says it is game day like a parking lot party with your best friends and a few ten thousand other strangers gathered together to munch on unhealthy food and chug beers like Prohibition was just repealed! While burgers, hotdogs, and wings are the typical food choices, there is plenty of room to add in some delicious snacks and finger foods to enjoy as well. Today's recipe, GameDay Garlic Butter Shrimp, will keep your fingers coated with garlicky, butter goodness and leave plenty of room in your stomach for a few more brewskis! It's a win-win all around for everyone being a simple and quick appetizer that doesn't break the bank but is sure to satisfy even the hungriest of fans. Of course, these Garlic Butter Shrimp can be served any day of the year, not just a game day, so grab that first drink and I'll show you how it's done. Let's get cooking!
This recipe will work with just about any size shrimp, but since I'm making it as an appetizer/snack I decided to go with a small/medium 41-50 count. You may be wondering what that number actually means. Well, simply put, shrimp are typically measured by the number of shrimp per pound so we should have about 45+/- shrimp in every pound. Make sense?
Moving on, the first step is to peel and devein the shrimp. Most frozen shrimp is sold already peeled and deveined, but if you happen to pick up fresh shrimp you will likely have to do this step yourself. Of course, if you prefer peel and eat shrimp, simply leave the shells on and move on to the next step. You can choose to leave the tails on or off as well. This is a messy finger food so I'd say leave the tails on if you are making a large batch to save prep time or go ahead and remove them if you are "Fancy like Applebees on a date night" and plan on serving these up with a fork. Anyway, once your shrimp are prepared to your liking, hit them with some Old Bay Seasoning or any seafood rub of your choice. Make sure all the shrimp are evenly coated and set them aside a few minutes to start soaking in those flavors as we get the Sauté Setup prepared.
Grab a stick of butter from the fridge and melt 6 tablespoons of it in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Don't worry health fanatics as we will use the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter later on, so 6 will do for now! You can get away with using salted butter if you like, but there is enough salt in the Old Bay so save a little sodium in your diet for later in something else and use unsalted butter this one time! I made a fairly large batch to feed a small army so I ended up using an indoor electric skillet, but any large pan will do the trick. Once the butter is melted, add the shrimp and sauté them on each side for 2-3 minutes. No one likes overcooked shrimp so pull them out of the pan once both sides are pink. They will get a little more heat later on so don't worry about them being undercooked at this point.
Set the shrimp aside for now and add a metric boat load of minced garlic to the same pan you just cooked the shrimp in earlier. There still should be plenty of butter so sauté the garlic for about 1 minute until it becomes fragrant.
Pour in the chicken stock and bring everything up to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat down and simmer until the garlicky chicken stock reduces by about half. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter while the mixture reduces and begins to thicken.
Turn the heat completely off at this point and/or remove the pan from the stove. Add the shrimp back to the pan and toss to get all the shrimp evenly coated in the garlic butter sauce. If you made a large batch, simply pour the sauce over the shrimp in the bowl you removed them too earlier and toss to coat. Either way, combine the sauce and shrimp together. It's not rocket science!
And just like that you are back to chugging beers and enjoying pregame festivities with the rest of the crowd! You can plate the garlicky, butter-coated mega healthy shrimp with a fork or just dump it all in a disposable aluminum pan for everyone to dig in with their greasy fingers. Make sure to pour any remaining sauce over everything for a little final hit of artery clogging flavor! It will help keep the shrimp warm longer too, as if you need a legit excuse for them to soak up a little more garlic butter, just sayin! These GameDay Garlic Butter Shrimp are great on a cool Fall day or any time of year really. You don't even have to wait for the next ball game. Make a small batch as a snack or make a batch just because you need a little more love in your life...garlic butter shrimp love that is! No matter when you choose to make these tasty shrimp, get in the kitchen and make delicious stuff....Just Keep Cooking!
GAMEDAY GARLIC BUTTER SHRIMP
Comments