I know, I know, it is Boxing Day (a.k.a. the day after Christmas) so who cares about Christmas Eve anymore - at least not for another 364 days or so. Here's why you might care: fried shrimp. Every Christmas Eve for the last thirteen years I've been celebrating with my husband's family and the centerpiece of the table has always been a huge overflowing platter of homemade fried shrimp. The shrimp are coated in a light and crispy coating so all you really taste is shrimp and they are in such abundance that we can eat as many as we want and still have some left over.
So this year my father-in-law moved to Florida and we were left on our own to make the shrimp. The great thing about that is that now I know how to do it.
Here's what you'll need:
shrimp - we buy 16/20 frozen shrimp (cleaned and shelled but uncooked) about 5 pounds
4 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste (I like freshly ground sea salt and just a pinch of pepper)
flour for dredging
oil for frying
I know this doesn't look like much of a recipe - where are all the quantities, but keep reading. You'll see that it really is pretty simple.
1. Defrost shrimp. You can speed this up if you need to by putting the shrimp in a bowl with cold tap water.
2. Combine the beaten eggs and the seasoning (salt and pepper for me) in a bowl.
3. Put the flour for dredging in a separate bowl - maybe 2 cups to start with - more as needed.
4. Have a clean plate ready to hold the shrimp before they go in the oil and another clean, paper towel lined plate for when they first come out of the oil.
5. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees and have a clean oven safe platter on the middle shelf.
6. Heat up about 3 inches of oil in a cast iron pan or an electric skillet until 375 degrees.
7. While the oil is heating up dip each shrimp into the egg mixture and then dredge it in the flour. Shake off any excess flour and put the shrimp on the plate until the oil is hot enough to start frying.
8. When the oil reaches 375 fry the shrimp in batches - I did as many as I could fit at once which, in my big electric skillet was about 20. The shrimp are done when they have turned pink and are opaque through to the center when you cut one in half - I found that this was between 2 and 3 minutes. Remove shrimp from boiling oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel for one minute. Transfer cooked shrimp to warm oven.
9. Once all the shrimp are cooked, drained and transfered to the oven you can clean up your kitchen if you want (so you can relax and enjoy the meal). The shrimp will hold in the oven for quite a while.
Serve fried shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce, malt vinegar or tarter sauce. Or whatever you prefer.
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