Lenten Meals Spotlight...Featuring Sizzling Garlic Shrimp #lentenfood #shrimp #garlic #seafood

 

It's officially the Lenten season for Catholics -- which means Friday meals are meatless until Easter. As a result, I love to have plenty of quick-cook seafood and veg-friendly Friday dinner options for the coming weeks. Growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, I grew up eating Gulf seafood. Gulf shrimp? Don’t even get me started…it’s my favorite food to this day!! Today, I'm sharing a fantastic recipe for Sizzling Garlic Shrimp...which takes FIVE simple ingredients that combine to provide HUGE flavor! It's quick to make for a speedy dinner…and it also makes a fabulous appetizer. Here's an insiders' tip for you: if you buy shrimp that are already peeled and deveined, this dish can literally be ready to eat in about 10 minutes. While you whip up the shrimp, make sure to put some French bread in the oven to soak up the flavorful sauce in the bottom of the serving bowl!

Sizzling Garlic Shrimp

from Fish Market cookbook

Ingredients (makes four servings):

• 1/4 cup good-quality olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2-3 dried chiles de Arbol, split open and all seeds removed
• 1 pound 16/20 count shrimp, peeled and tails removed
• Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 French baguette, lightly toasted and sliced

Directions:

Step 1: Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced garlic and chiles, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. 

Step 2: Add the shrimp, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, Sauté shrimp for 3-4 minutes, until curled and coral in color.

Step 3: To serve, split the shrimp and flavored oil between four small, warmed bowls -- or pour the shrimp mixture into one warmed serving bowl. Scatter the flat-leave parsley over top just prior to serving with the toasted baguette slices.

I absolutely love it when a simple dish takes mere minutes to prepare, but tastes like a gourmet treat! This shrimp is bursting with garlicky flavor, with a hint of spice from the dried peppers. I love to serve this shrimp as a first course/appetizer with toasted baguette slices, but you could certainly serve the shrimp over noodles or rice pilaf for a delicious main dish too. Not only does this dish taste great…your kitchen will smell heavenly as the garlic and peppers cook in the olive oil. It doesn’t get much easier – or taster – than this dish, friends!

What are your go-to Friday Lent meals? Leave a comment below...along with a link to your recipe if you care to share. I'm always on the lookout for new seafood-centric meals to serve during the Lenten season!