Shrimp Cocktail

This Shrimp Cocktail is super easy and probably done in a way you haven’t tried before. I don’t have a lot of experience with shellfish, but with this recipe I didn’t feel like I needed it. It was perfect over the holidays and even nice as a healthy dish going into the new year!

I got lucky, sort of. This recipe calls for shell on shrimp, and while I did get the shell on shrimp they were already deveined for me. In fact, I couldn’t find a frozen kind with the vein still intact. Good for time saving, but not if you want to learn how to devein properly. Oh well, we’ll cover that in another post down the road.

First we start off with a brine, yes I said brine and yes it’s for shrimp, add in the salt and don’t ask questions

next the sugar

Some water

Ice

and finally the Shrimp, let these bad boys soak in the fridge for 20-25 minutes

While that’s going on, get started on the Cocktail Sauce, in a blender or food processor add in the tomatoes

Chili Sauce

Prepared Horseradish, might have overdone this a bit, but the result was excellent. What can I say, I like a little bit of heat

Sugar

Pepper

Salt and blend away

Once the shrimp have finished brining, rinse them off in cold water and lay on paper towels to dry

Grab your tin of Old Bay Seasoning

And toss it in the rinsed shrimp with a little olive oil

Now I forgot to tell you while you were rinsing and seasoning the shrimp you had your oven on broil with a sheet pan in there getting nice and hot, so that when you were done you could put those seasoned shrimp on a sizzling pan

Throw them in the oven, still on broil, for 2 min and then flip them over and put back in for another minute, once they’re done, quickly put them on another chilled sheet pan and stick them right in the fridge until they’re ready to be served

Dig in, they’re delicious!

Shrimp Cocktail
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

* 32 shell-on (21 to 25 count) tiger shrimp-Alton suggests getting frozen unless you live close enough to the ocean to catch them yourself

For the brine:

* 1/4 cup kosher salt
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 cup water
* 2 cups ice

For the cocktail sauce:

* 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
* 1/2 cup prepared chili sauce
* 4 tablespoons prepared horseradish
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* Few grinds fresh black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* Sprinkle Old Bay seasoning

Directions

Place cleaned shrimp into a bowl with brine and refrigerate mixture for 20 to 25 minutes. While shrimp are brining, place tomatoes, chili sauce, horseradish, sugar, pepper, and salt in food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate cocktail sauce until ready to serve.

Place a baking sheet or broiler pan under oven broiler and preheat for 5 minutes. Remove shrimp from brine and drain thoroughly. Rinse the shrimp under cold water and dry on paper towels. In a large bowl, toss shrimp with olive oil and sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning, if desired.

Place shrimp onto a sizzling sheet pan and return to broiler immediately. After 2 minutes, turn the shrimp with a pair of tongs. Return the shrimp to broiler for 1 minute. Transfer to a cold cookie sheet. Refrigerate immediately.

Once shrimp have chilled, arrange with cocktail sauce in a martini glass or as desired.
Recipe Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

My Good Eats

A cooking blog to pay homage to the great Alton Brown by making Good Eats

Shrimp Cocktail

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