We grill outdoors year-round, but not every evening is ideal for stepping out and firing up a chimney of charcoal. On icy nights when I don’t want to be more than a few steps from the woodstove, I pull out the recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I think of seared shrimp bubbling in hot oil as a Spanish dish because it reminds me of meals I enjoyed in Spain’s tapas bars. This dish is incredibly simple to make, and if you always keep a bag of raw shrimp in the freezer and a head of garlic on the counter, you can make it on a whim.

I like to serve these shrimp over Cinnamon Couscous, a recipe I picked up on my travels in Morocco, as a quick fusion meal. You can also simply cut some hunks of Sourdough Cabin Bread or the crusty white baguette in my new sourdough guide for the The Old Farmer’s Almanac website and dip them into the oil to munch alongside the shrimp, tapas style.

Learn more about cooking shrimp on the stovetop and get the complete recipe for Seared Shrimp in Garlic Oil in my column.

Make it, share it.
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Cleaning Shrimp

As I mention in my column, I always choose raw shrimp with the shell still on for searing and grilling. You can learn all about why it’s worth the extra work to peel shrimp yourself—and exactly how to do so—in my recent piece for Taste of Home.

To ensure I’m buying the safest, tastiest frozen shrimp, I usually ask at the fish counter whether the semidefrosted shrimp on display is available still frozen. A well-stocked seafood department typically has deep freezers with cases of frozen products that may have been handled less often. Before buying a bag, I look for freezer burn or excessive ice crystals, signs that the shrimp may have thawed at some point during transport.

When I’m lucky enough to be visiting the West Coast while the shrimp fishery is open, I jump at any opportunity to buy freshly caught, live spot prawns. I typically buy these directly from a boat pulled up at the Bellingham Dockside Market. Similar dock sales occur at wharfs up and down the coast when the local season is open.

You can find recipes that use shrimp in the recipe index and more of my work off the blog here.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.