Today’s recipe is a 20 minute entrée: Sauteed Shrimp in Garlic Sauce with lemon and parsley. It’s super simple, paleo and gluten-free!
In keeping with the fast recipe I have today, I also have a fast post. All I wanted to say is remember a while back how I went on and on about sugars and the boiling point of water and water evaporation? Wait, before your eyes glaze over, I won’t go into that again, but I will say that the stuff I said in that post totally comes into play when you make this shrimp recipe.
If you don’t feel like re-reading it, here is the one paragraph take away and how it applies to today’s shrimp recipe. To brown the shrimp and keep them from releasing all their juice into the pan, you’ll want to make sure you heat up your pan before you add the shrimp. You can even add a shrimp to test if the oil is hot. If you do, and it doesn’t really sizzle sizzle sizzle then you should wait a minute before adding the rest of the shrimp. You also don’t want to overcrowd the pan. So make sure you use a 10-inch skillet, not an 8 or 9-inch.
If you do those two things your shrimp will sauté, turn lightly golden, retain all their sweet shrimpy juicy goodness. Not only that the garlic will taste better because it is fried not boiled. You’ll be rewarded with sweet plump and lightly golden sautéed shrimp in massive amounts of garlic and parsley with a bit of bright lemon to make the whole thing come alive.
To choose the best shrimp make sure you check here first.
Check to see if your shrimp is labeled STP (or STPP) free. While the FDA recognizes Sodium Tripolyphosphate as generally recognized as safe, the use of it to preserve moisture content in seafood dramatically increases the sodium content. Not only that, I’ve found that seafood that’s treated with it will not achieve a good sear.
Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the US. To learn more about it, this article from EatingWell about shrimp farming is a good one.
Shrimp in garlic sauce with lemon and parsley, an easy 20 minute entree for busy weeknights. Naturally gluten-free and paleo.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs frozen16-20 ct. peeled and deveined shrimp, defrosted
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup roughly chopped Italian Parsley
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pat shrimp dry.
- Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add shrimp and sprinkle with salt. Let cook, until bright pink and starting to brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes.
- Push shrimp to one side of the skillet, and tilt skillet to allow oil to pool on the open surface of the skillet. Add garlic to the oil and stir. Cook, stirring the garlic only until the it is fragrant and just starting to brown. Stir the garlic into the shrimp and stir to coat the shrimp with the garlic. Redistribute the shrimp mixture onto the surface of the skillet. Drizzle lemon over the shrimp and stir to coat. Continue cooking until the shrimp is just cooked through, 40 seconds to 2 minutes.
- Add parsley and black pepper, stir to coat and remove from the heat . Serve hot.
Twitter: aggieskitchen
on March 18, 2015 at 8:59 am
This looks gorgeous! My kind of meal!
Aggie recently posted…Pan Seared Blackened Salmon with Citrus Salsa
Thanks so much Aggie. Have a great day!
Katie recently posted…healthy pasta romanesco with anchovies
Twitter: tspbasil
on March 18, 2015 at 10:50 am
Not only is shrimp + garlic pretty much one of my favorite food combos ever, I liked reading your tips for sauteeing the shrimp and the tips on find the best/most sustainable shrimp out there.
So glad you like it my friend!
Katie recently posted…maple sherry vinaigrette
That is such a great tip about cooking the shrimp. Heating the pan makes all the difference in the world for achieving those perfectly seared shrimp. What a great dish!
Cookin Canuck recently posted…Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Almond Butter Sauce Recipe
Ah thank you so much Dara~ Hope you have a great day.
Katie recently posted…simple roasted parsnips
Wow! That’s a beautiful dish of shrimp and pasta! Amazing photos, Katie!
Bill recently posted…Roasted Roma Tomatoes
Thanks so much Bill! Have a great day.
Quick question (as I have never cooked shrimp before…eek!): it calls for frozen shrimp, but I assume it needs to thaw before cooking?
Yes, defrost them in a colander under cool running water, tossing them around ever so often. It takes about 4 minutes.