Grilled Garlic Shrimp
Five working ingredients, ten minutes of fire, and the most reliable applause in the collection. The garlic butter goes on three times - before, during and after - with crushed red pepper and fresh basil keeping it from being merely rich.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds large tail-on shrimp
- 6-inch bamboo skewers, soaked in water
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
- Peel the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Thread 4 shrimp onto each soaked skewer; set aside.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper, simmer 1 minute, and stir in the basil.
- Brush each skewer lightly with the garlic butter, then season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Grill over medium coals 4 to 5 minutes per side, until the shrimp are pink and opaque.
- Remove from the grill and brush with the remaining garlic butter before serving.
Notes from the Grill
Keep two pools of butter - one for brushing raw shrimp, one reserved clean for the final brush - or simply boil what's left for a minute before the finish. Shrimp curl into a loose 'C' when done and a tight 'O' when overdone; pull them at the C. These disappear fastest as a pass-around appetizer straight off the skewer.
Serving Ideas
As a pass-around appetizer, hand the skewers straight from the grill with napkins and lime wedges. As dinner, pile the shrimp over linguine and add the finishing butter to the pasta - it is a scampi in all but name. If basil is scarce, flat-leaf parsley with a few torn mint leaves lands surprisingly close. Count on the full two pounds disappearing regardless of how many you invited.