Garlicky Shrimp Bake

Ok, finally, here's the promised post for the Garlicky Shrimp Bake!  I found this wonderful recipe over at Gimme Some Oven and the first time I made it, I followed her recipe precisely.  I turned out wonderfully, but this last time I decided to make a couple of adjustments, including using her original "mistake" of using popcorn shrimp instead of regular shrimp.  I figured it would increase the density of the shrimp, and it worked!

If you want a pasta side-dish, I would recommend starting to boil your water at the same time you preheat the oven.  The shrimp dish doesn't take long to prepare, so if your water is already boiling when you put the shrimp in the oven, you can cook your pasta and they'll both be done at about the same time!

And now, here's my adjusted recipe!

Ingredients:
1 pound of cleaned and peeled frozen, raw popcorn shrimp
4 cloves of minced garlic
2 Tablespoons of white wine
salt and pepper
6 Tablespoons of butter
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons of dried Parsley (1 teaspoon of dried Parsley=1 Tablespoon of fresh Parsley, fyi :-) )
1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

The first step SHOULD be to thaw the shrimp.  I'd recommend taking them out of the freezer and putting them in the fridge 24 hours before you want to cook.  If, like me, you always forget to do that, putting the shrimp in ice water for a bit will also mostly thaw them out.  They don't actually need to be completely thawed to cook--just mostly.

The second step is to preheat the oven to 425 degrees!

Recently, I've started to lay a towel down whenever I'm cooking and baking.  You see, I tend to make a bit of a mess, but when I make it on the towel I can just roll it up and shake it into the sink!  And it gives a nice color background in my pictures so that it's not just the dark silestone :-).

Next, pour the (mostly) thawed popcorn shrimp in a medium bowl and add the 2 Tablespoons of white wine and 4 cloves of minced garlic.  Mix it all together well.

Now pour the shrimp into a medium-sized baking dish.  I add just a bit more white wine--no more than another Tablespoon.  Also, LIGHTLY dust the shrimp with salt and pepper, then set the baking dish aside for now.

Using the microwave, take a smaller mixing bowl and melt the 6 Tablespoons of butter.  After that, add the cup of Panko breadcrumbs, the 1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice, and the 2 teaspoons of dried Parsley.  Mix everything together really well.  Honestly, though the original recipe called for 2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped Parsley, I really liked the way the dried mixed better.  Also, the original recipe called for half a lemon to be squeezed over the finished dish--that way made it more lemony, and the way I did it gave it a subtle lemon flavor.  Either way it still tastes great!

After it's all mixed, sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture evenly over the top of the shrimp.  Don't worry if it sticks to your fingers a bit--that just means it's moist enough!  Also, it sure is yummy to lick off your fingers!  Of course, after doing that, make sure to wash your hands ;-)!

Once that's done, pop it all into the oven for 15-18 minutes until the shrimp are pink and opaque.  Because I am paranoid about eating raw seafood (I still have a hard time with raw oysters), I bake it for 20 minutes.  It doesn't burn on me, and it makes the breadcrumbs a bit crunchier than they are at the 18 minute mark.

I served it with bowtie pasta (aka farfalle pasta) with a from-scratch white sauce that I'll post about next, and SteamFresh green beans.  Bryan had Sprite Zero with the meal, and I had a white wine spritzer, made from 3/4 wine and 1/4 Sprite Zero.  I thought it all turned out really well--an assessment supported by the fact that, this time, my husband went back for seconds!  Success!