Mark Bittmans Famous Spicy Shrimp Recipes

SPICY GRILLED SHRIMP

Steps:

• Start a charcoal or gas grill, or heat the broiler. Make the fire as hot as it will get, and put the rack close to the heat source.
• Mince garlic with salt; mix with cayenne and paprika, then make into a paste with olive oil and lemon juice. Smear paste on shrimp. Grill or broil shrimp, 2 to 3 minutes a side, turning once. Serve immediately or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.

SPICY SHRIMP

Steps:

• Start a grill or preheat the broiler or oven. Make the fire as hot as it will get and put the rack close to the heat source.
• Mince the garlic with the salt; mix with the cayenne and paprika, then make into a paste with olive oil and lemon juice. Smear the paste on the shrimp. Grill, broil, or roast the shrimp, 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning them once. Serve immediately or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.
• Variation
• You can take this dish in a completely different direction by substituting curry powder for the paprika, peanut oil for the olive oil, and lime juice for the lemon juice.
• Shrimp
• Almost all shrimp are frozen before sale. So unless you're in a hurry, you might as well buy them frozen and defrost them yourself; this will guarantee you that they are defrosted just before you cook them, therefore retaining peak quality.
• There are no universal standards for shrimp size; large and medium don't mean much. Therefore, it pays to learn to judge shrimp size by the number per pound, as retailers do. Shrimp labeled 16/20, for example, contain sixteen to twenty per pound; those labeled U-20 require fewer (under) twenty to make a pound. Shrimp from fifteen to about thirty per pound usually give the best combination of flavor, ease (peeling tiny shrimp is a nuisance), and value (really big shrimp usually cost more than $15 a pound).
• On deveining: I don't. You can, if you like, but it's a thankless task, and there isn't one person in a hundred who could blind-taste the difference between shrimp that have and have not been deveined.

SHRIMP, MARK'S WAY

Steps:

• Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook carefully, lowering the heat as necessary, until the garlic is just colored; add the spices and stir.
• Raise the heat to medium and add the shrimp; sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook gently, turning once or twice, until nicely coated with the spices and oil and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
• Serve the shrimp with the pan juices, garnishing with the parsley and lemon wedges.