Garlic Butter Shrimp

You know how they say marriages are made in heaven? Well they are. And this doesn’t just apply to humans, you know. Seriously. Because I think there are so many things that are so meant to be together, it makes you believe there is a reason why some things  just absolutely make more sense together. That is not to say that individually they aren’t great or anything.. but you get the drift. I hope…!

What I’m trying to say that we use this phrase a lot when it comes to people. BUT, I think there are foods, textures and flavours that can be paired together too and when done right, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

Like take garlic and butter for example. My two favourite kitchen staples. You put them together in a pan and the aroma wafting out of the kitchen is guaranteed to leave you nothing short of mesmerized. 😍 Garlic and butter make just about anything delicious. So I thought why not introduce you guys to the most beloved garlic butter recipe. With shrimp. JACKPOT!

**Runs to the kitchen and gets to it**

Garlicky Buttery Shrimp:

Serves 2 | Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 8 min

Ingredients : 

Jumbo Prawns – 250 gms (try and get fresh prawns, I used frozen today)
Garlic – 10-12 small cloves, finely chopped
Butter – 75 gms (I used herb butter)
Olive Oil – 2 tbsps
Parsley – a handful, finely chopped
White Wine – 40 ml. Use any crisp, dry white wine. I used a Sula Sauvignon Blanc for this recipe.
Dried Red Chili Flakes – 2 tsps
Black Pepper – 1 tsp
Lemon – 1 medium, cut into 4 wedges
Salt – to taste

Steps:

Add the olive oil to a flat pan on low heat. Now add half the butter (about 35 gms) to the pan. We do this because butter is likely to burn and  the olive oil which has a higher smoke point stops the butter from browning or burning. Important tip because burnt butter, unless done properly for a particular recipe, tastes (and I’m not going to put it subtly) bad.

And don’t worry about the quantity of the butter. As Julia Child always said “There’s no such thing as too much butter”. 😉

So once the butter in the pan looks like it is melting, add the chopped garlic. Sauté on low flame till the garlic is highly fragrant but ensure it doesn’t brown. Browned garlic is not what we need in this recipe. Toss in the prawns in to the pan and sauté. About 3 minutes should do it (Note that I’m using frozen prawns which are partially cooked. If you are using fresh prawns for this recipe, cook them till they turn visibly pink and curl up.)

When you feel that the prawns are just about cooked, get one out on a plate and press into it with your index finger. It should feel soft and tender. Transfer the prawns into another bowl and set aside. When doing so, do not transfer much of the butter and garlic, we will be using it to make the sauce.

Now to the pan, add the wine and turn up the heat. Bring this mix to the boil and cook until reduced to half. Now add the red chili flakes and pepper. Add the remaining butter and whisk this until creamy.

You will see the colour of this sauce turn slightly golden now, and this is your cue to add the prawns that we had set aside a while ago. Make sure you coat the prawns with all the sauce and turn off the heat. Season according to your taste.

Transfer the prawns to your serving plate. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with a nice hard bread. (Helps sop up the buttery goodness 😉)