Shelly's Recipe

BAKED STUFFED SHRIMPBAKED STUFFED SHRIMP

Category: Fish and Seafood

1 stalk celery, diced
1-2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp butter
60 Ritz crackers
1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter, melted (easiest in a microwave for 45 seconds)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
2-3 Tbsp white wine
Lots of black pepper, to taste
20 jumbo shrimp (U-12 size)
Paprika, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 375. In a small frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp of butter. Sauté the celery and garlic for 3-4 minutes on low heat, until softened but not browned. Add to a large mixing bowl.

Crush the crackers with your hands so the crumbs are quite coarse, and add to the bowl with the celery. Stir in the melted butter, lemon juice, parsley, white wine and pepper. The mixture should be fairly dry but should just hold together. Taste, and add, as needed, more lemon juice, more pepper, or more wine. The crackers are salty, so you will not need salt.

To prepare the shrimp: remove the shell, leaving the tail section on. Turn the shrimp with the inside of the curve facing up. Butterfly the shrimp by running a sharp paring knife along the length of the inside, cutting down but not all the way through. You should be able to flatten the shrimp, except for the tail section, and scrape out any black vein.

Set one shrimp on a plate, cut side facing up (the tail should be standing up, too). Mound one tbsp of cracker filling on the shrimp, and smooth into a large mound. Place the shrimp on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat (silicone liner) or sprayed with nonstick spray. Repeat until all of the shrimp are stuffed. Sprinkle each shrimp with a tiny bit of paprika. Bake for 20 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked and the stuffing is browned on top.