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SubscribeFriday, December 14, 2007
Roasted Garlic Killer Shrimp
Earlier this year, I wanted to change up SteamyKitchen.com’s site design and structure. The current design has served me quite well, but I wanted more features, and let’s face it, given the choice of “same” or “more bling” you know which I’d rear end in a heartbeat.
But the only technical thing I’m good at is the three-finger-salute, Ctrl-Alt-Del. The move is used so often that it’s implanted in my autonomic nervous system, etching a fat path with sparkly pink synapses. Just this past weekend at the grocery store, I had an altercation with an old, crinkly bastard who apparently forgot to pluck his golf club out of his ass before he stepped off the green and yelled at me for my grocery cart that came within 2 millimeters from his precious blue Volvo convertible. After walking away and cussing under my breath, my fingers automatically went into position and from a distance, I held my hands up and Ctrl-Alt-Deleted his 2-inch forehead. It’s a powerful gesture, one that stops Windows dead in its tracks and also gives me the satisfaction of cursing him from afar. So what if I look dumb, I don’t care.
For the site, customizing fonts and colors were a piece of cake, but changing column widths was like trying to move the Statue of Liberty with a salad fork and cheese grater.
Do you know what HTML stands for? Hyperactive Total Mental Leakage. Oh yeah. And cascading style sheets, or CSS? That’s the sound of my precious brain cells seeping out of my head during moments of spontaneous HTML.
This is worse than learning a new language! At least if I’m flubbing in Spanish, I can supplement with hand gestures. In code-speak, if you’re missing one little tiny “:” the site just shrugs its shoulders, says,
DOES NOT COMPUTE, and heads back to the server for a nap.
Finally, last Friday, after countless hours of coding, testing, tweaking and head banging, I was ready to launch. I announced aloud to my friends that I was going to click this little button, chimes will sound and magically, all the electronic impulses in the universe would align and “poof!” Steamy Kitchen would unveil its new facelift. I held my breath, shut one eye and clicked.
INVALID ERROR
“Dammit! I thought you loved me. Say something! Tell me what you want. Our relationship is so much stronger than a colon.” But still, no response. I should have included a line item for “therapist” in my design budget.
I was so sick of the computer, that for dinner options, I reached for a cookbook instead of searching through my bookmarks. This recipe for Roasted Garlic Killer Shrimp is one that I adapted from a cookbook called,
Crab cookbook co-authored by my friend, Jennifer Jeffrey. The other author, you ask? None other than the famous Andrea Froncillo, exec chef of The Stinking Rose, a garlic restaurant in San Francisco and Beverly Hills. I modified the recipe by using shrimp instead of crab because I live in a far, far away place that even though surrounded three sides by really deep water, I have absolutely no access to fresh, live crab. Sigh.
***
This is a “soft” launch of the new site design. What does “soft” mean? It means It means I’m still tweaking the site design and structure. So if you happen to come along knocking on my blog and see me in my underwear painting, hammering and leaking brain cells, you’ll understand. It also means if I f’ up, leave a “:” out of the code and break the site, you’ll also understand, right?!
I can broked new dezign…
***
Garlic Roasted Killer Crab Shrimp
serves 4 as part of multicourse meal
1 lb shell-on shrimp
½ cup white wine
½ stick of butter
3 tbl minced shallots
2 tbl fresh rosemary
1 tsp fresh thyme
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbl olive oil
1 tbl sea salt
crushed red pepper
chopped parsley
loaf of crusty french bread
Preheat oven to 375F.
If you are using extra large shrimp, you can butterfly them, keeping them in the shell, like I did in the photo. Otherwise, leave them whole in the shell. Wash and carefully cut through shell to devein the shrimp while leaving the shell on. The easiest way to do this is with sharp, pointy kitchen shears. Just cut through the back. Heat olive oil and butter in large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. When hot but not smoking, add the shallots, garlic, rosemary, red pepper and thyme. Fry until fragrant. Add wine, salt, pepper. When boiling, turn heat off and toss in the shrimp. Send it off to the oven for 7-10 minutes, or until shrimp is cooked through. Timing will depend on the size of shrimp, check after 7 minutes. Garnish with sea salt, chopped parsley. Serve with bread to soak up the juices.
***
Contest to Win Free Crab Cookbook!
Jennifer and Andrea have generously given me 5 signed cookbooks to give away! To enter, just comment below and mention your favorite way to have crab. That’s it! So simple. I’ll draw 5 names on Tuesday December 18th at 11pm.
Good luck!
________a little note from my sponsor________
Are you hosting a dinner party? The table setting is one of the most important elements to set the tone of the party. Impress your guests with beautiful dinnerware, flatware and wine glasses. Before the guests arrive, be sure to use quality cutlery and cookware to make cooking easier and faster. Sharpening knives as they begin to dull will keep your knives like new.
____end of the little note from my sponsor______
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155 Responses to “Roasted Garlic Killer Shrimp”
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Cookbook
101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight's Dinner
by Jaden Hair -
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Ann Marie - "Hi! These look wonderful and I would like to try them. I'm wondering, …"
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Kelsey @aslolife - "oh my gosh, I'm going to be on this site all day!"
Deanna - "I love the fish flatware. So cute! Someday, it will be mine."
Well, when it comes to Snow Crab, just having it fresh on its own, no sauce, no seasoning, nothing, is just heavenly.
As for your average run-of-the-mill crab, if it can be in a mouth-scorchingly spicy thai stir fry with basil and eggplant, I’m happy as can be.
Oh, that look sooo good! My favorite way to have crab is really simply, those platters of crabs you can get at crab houses down in Maryland, where you sit at a table covered in brown paper, and all they give you are a mallet, a knife, some butter, and some bay seasoning.
Funny you should mention that.
I had a massive snow crab last night steamed with ginger and shallots, and the best way to eat it is to bite, crack, tear, suck and pick it apart with fingers. Screw etiquette I want every little morsel I can get.
Be it mud crab snow crab or blue swimmers, steamed is my favourite
Cheers
Henrybucks
While Danielle makes a good case above for the classic Maryland presentation, I’m going to have to go with chopped into segments and stir-fried with scallions and ginger, with a few drops of soy sauce. Heaven! (Now I’m hungry.)
For me nothing rivals a fresh and delicious Crab Cake! I get mine at a local restaurant in Seattle.
Thank you for a great blog and best of luck to you with the HTML/CSS updates.
For reg. crab I’d have it cut up by the store, then cook it at home with tomyum paste. Throw in some cubed tofu, tomatoes, eggplant, even okra and I call it a “balanced meal”! Some toasted french bread to soak up the juices as well.
For snow/king crab, I’ve steamed it with ginger, scallions, chinese rice wine and a beaten egg white. The egg white acts like a binder to the juices and it’s all together very yummy!! I’ve also added some soaked mung bean noodles to line the steam platter before putting the crab in; also a big hit!
I adore fresh crab just simply steamed in water and served with drawn butter with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of hot sauce. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of going crabbing with my grandmother off the Oregon coast for Dungeness crabs, coming back ashore at the end of the day, steaming them up on a propane stove right in the parking lot, and getting burned fingers cracking them open!
Third paragraph from bottom: I modified….u missed a space…aw but that’s the editro in me …lol… i know i know, the site looks great and my goodness are those head-on shrimp….
No website for me that was an error…ps it’s third paragraph before the recipe….
Fresh, hand-pulled, cold crab sandwich, with cucumber and mayo and the best multigrain bread in the world, made by an artisan baker in NH.
*bluebirds sing and a band plays schmaltzy songs*
Dammit, now I have to go see if the so-called Fish Lady at the local farmer’s market has any.
I’m going to have to second some others’ comments: there’s nothing like just the taste of king crab with nothing masking it. As far as other crab, lump crab in a nice cream sauce….yum!
Singapore Chilli Crab’s the way to go!
sadly, I have to agree with the Maryland peeps. Just give me a freaking mallet and a green bottle of heinie and I’m SET. Having said that, I don’t live in Maryland so i have to make do with what I’ve got.
In the winter time, I love having my crab in a big steaming pot of yosenabe with nappa cabbage, spinach, clams, fish…yum…
Jaden, I feel your coding pain. I recently moved my blog from blogspot to my own site with wordpress. Who knew I had so many curse words in my vocabulary? I sounded like a sailor for days, and pulled in every favor I had with my favorite geek friend. (Tip: ALWAYS have at least one good geek friend). So I for one, and I’m sure most of the rest of us loyal readers of yours, totally and completely understand any little hiccups.
But, I have to say, it looks great! So the soft launch is looking like it’s going to set rather well. Use ice cubes instead of cold water! HA!
Regarding crab, well my favorite way to enjoy it is to leave it in Florida! Why? Because that’s what everyone calls my husband’s mother. So my mother-in-law’s nickname is Crabby. She’s in Florida. That’s how I like to enjoy her.
I love crab cooked anyway at all, but really like it best with Thai seasonings. How lucky are you to be able to buy head-on shrimp!!!
I love sucking the heads…oh yum…they remind me of my 4 wonderful years living in Hong Kong and eating at the outdoor restaurants on the outer islands,,fantastic!
Crab cakes!
Oooo… I’m going to say steamed… With lots of butter and beer on the side.
I remember my family eating fresh cracked crab with cocktail sauce along with spaghetti on christmas eve. I think it is an italian thing – but we are not italian. I don’t eat it much, but that was one of my favorite memories.
Best way to have crab? Steamed, with a bucket (ok..cup) of melted butter and pile ‘em high on newspaper spread across the table.
(PS: Where in town can you get shrimp with all the legs on like that in the pic?)
Crab for me has to be Dungeness. I prefer it Cantonese style, stir fried with ginger, scallions and garlic, with a egg thrown in to make a clingy sauce.
One of the things I miss about the East Bay are the crab feeds held by the local churches and school booster clubs. $30 for spaghetti and all you can eat cold cooked crab. Bring your own drawn butter, or garlic butter, lemon wedges, and cocktail sauce. Of course one of the things you have to do at these feeds, is to take a bag of crab home, shell it, and make crab cakes.
Funny story about crab. My son adores crab also. My mom tends to get crazy Chinese superstitious and said, he’s gonna be a ‘Baat yeem jai’ Octopus boy, into everything. Well that old wives tale was right, but then again he’s a boy. Of course mommy cracks the crab and gets all the meat out for him to eat, and once he was so impatient he cried out, “Mommy get the chicken out of the crab for me please!” Hey, it’s the other white meat!
I have found a Ranch 99 off the Buford highway in Atlanta that sells fresh, fighting crab. We try to buy them alive, take them home, let them crawl around on the kitchen floor freak out the dogs, then throw them in the sink, and I pop off the the flap, and yank the shell off the body. Quick easy death, and oh so yummy. Use to have a neighbor with a retail crabbing license, and I’d get crab that way too. $5 for a 2-3lb live crab.. Oh the best! Can’t wait to get back to CA and eat some crab!
You had me at roasted garlic! The new layout is beautiful and hopefully you’ll not leak too many brain cells in the process of ironing out the kinks.
I LOVE having Chinese crab. I don’t know the “real” name for it but its crab with ground pork and black beans. Man, I haven’t had that in a while. I don’t even have a real Chinese resturant where I live. I have to go into Tucson for anything remotely like a Chinese resturant.
I love to eat crab any way it is served! We go to the beach and wade out for our crab pots and cook them and eat them fresh. Or, cheesy crab puffs on little toasts from trader joes or in mushrooms. We like it stuffed in the fresh salmon with some brie. We like it in pasta. Oh, dumped on top of the tomato checa sauce with lots of garlic, parm, basil, etc! Man, now I want crab and I have chicken for dinner! And later when the kids are in bed – we like to savor that homemade baileys! Jaden – did you try it? Is that taking over for the bloody mary?
Jaden, your shrimp look AMAZING! Yum!
Crab is finally available again (post oil spill) here in San Francisco, and it tastes sooo good, but your shrimp are awfully tempting. xox
Crab cakes with minimal filler, cooked in a cast iron pan for crunchy outsides served with a garlic aioli.
Chinese crab at Lily’s in Berkeley (when I lived there). Now I’m stuck in Tucson and I’d like to know where Lilie goes for Chinese food here. It’s dismal.
It’s probably unoriginal, but my absolute favorite way to eat crab is in a crab cake.. but one with TONS of fresh crabmeat. And with a sauce of a little lemon, a little sriracha and a smidge of mayo and voila, the best ever.
Also, if you need help with the dreaded HTML or CSS (I’m a web designer), shoot me an email. I’ve gotten enough awesome recipes off here, I’m sure I owe you big time.
This looks absolutely divine!!! And like I could actually make it!
good luck with the site…I’m sure it will look fantabulous after you’ve had your way with it!
My most memorable crab dish was a sweet, aromatic, and spicy preparation served at a roadside food stand on Old Klang Road in Kuala Lumpur that had been demolished many years ago. The best part was sopping up the gravy with toasted white bread.
A few months ago, Mark Bittman of the New York Times published a recipe he called “chili shrimp” that evoked memories of that classic dish. I tried tweaking Bittman’s recipe but could not reproduce the true flavour.
My favorite way to have crab is in my Mom’s Gumbo. She uses what she calls the crab fingers. I’ve never seen them in a store that way. It looks like the end of the claw though, and the pincer is ready to puncture your brain pan if you’re not careful while eating it. But the shell and all goes in the gumbo and it gives it a really great flavor.
Although I like complicated shrimp dishes, I prefer my crabs pretty simple: steamed. I grew up near DC, so everyone dumps tons of Bay seasoning on crabs, but I don’t care for that. Sometimes I like the meat to speak for itself.
I love me some soft shell crabs!
The roasted shrimps are making me salivate
~ I love black pepper crab … Cooked with crushed Chinese black peppers and lots of spring onions… so heavenly! Writing this has given me an instant craving! 
Yeah yeah I am greedy…
I am trying my luck once more… 
I don’t even have to think about my answer – Malasian Dry Curry Crab, the best way to have crab… I am drooling just thinking about it…
And LOL at the Ctrl+Alt+Del on the baldie… It is a much more powerful gesture than the middle finger… you are using three fingers, that will send the message
I love crab cakes!
A friend of mine (sbroadway.livejournal.com) pointed me your way. I look forward to reading what you have to say!
Steamed with butter. Pure crabby heaven.
Wow! That shrimp looks so good! As for my favorite way to have crab, I’m having trouble deciding. Its between steamed with a dip of lemon juice, salt, pepper, sugar, and pulverized chili peppers or else cooked in a sweet, spicy, tangy, and completely addictive tamarind sauce. Wow, I have to go visit the fishmonger now.
I just love your blog! And, it’s one of the few, where I sent an email to my son, with the PICTURE you had of the bowl of beef poridge … and he wrote back that it looked great. And, he was going to try it.
Our kids do funny things when they grow up. They eat as if they were never even raised at home. My son? Who wouldn’t touch green vegetables. Who hated lettuce.
Grew up to love Japanese and Chinese food. And, cooks his own. Using a wok.
So there ya go.
Can’t imagine why you’d want people at the table to deal with the shrimp’s heads. (When I was very young my mom explained to me that “shrimp had huge, and very ugly heads, and so the man in the fish store took them off.” Well, the heads aren’t quite as ugly as I imagined; but they’re no fun at the table.)
However, I’ll give ya that the shells and stuff imparts “taste.” All the stuff that’s good for broth, that gets strained away before you even see it.
By the way, Jaden, the demonstrations you leave to your boys to do, are the best thing about how wonderful it is to read your stuff. More personal than letters from home. So many of your photographs just makes my day.
Ah!..talk about codes…when I tried changing mine…I too felt it didn’t love me a bit!..but this is love-hate relationship…you will finally get it around to love you…
about crab…you asked me to mention my favorite way to have crab….well I will like mine without the Crab!…hheehhe….
Our favorite crab must be Dungenness, fresh out of the water, steamed for 18 – 20 minutes, and eaten just like that. It needs no butter or lemon or anything else that can get in the way of that deliciously sweet flesh. Oh, and I am not afraid to go after the tomalley either. Just mix it in with your rice and devour!
We’re gonna have some this coming week.
I love the new design. More room for food porn, as you say. Can I steal it?
No No No No!! This format is all wrong Jaden. This is a made-for-adsense template and people are gonna so judge you. I liked your previous one. But, the three recupes at the bottom is a great idea.
The shrimps look a lil too raw for my Indian tastes. But the pic is amazing as usual
Spicy crab dip and deviled crabs. Yum-O!
Love your writing Jaden!
Love the site!! Proud to say I share it with all my cooking ‘homies’ – the new landing page looks more refined, but is def ‘teh sexay’
Just moved down FL way and have found a lil shop called ‘penn dutch’ right down the steet – Alaskan king crab legs the size of baseball bats steamed and served with clarified butter – there really isn’t anything like fistfuls of crab
You get no live crabs in your hood? Oooh man, that’s just blasphemy , you have to move back to CA, I tell you!
I am going to post a sake and butter crab recipe soon…are you jealous, huh huh?
Oohhhhhh how I would love some steamed Chinese mitten crab with vinegar and ginger…
I like crab best when he calls in sick.
Oh wait, you mean the seafood, not my coworker. Fresh from the shell is best, or maybe a little crab salad in an avocado half.
Oh god I love crab. My dad had some crab pots and sometimes he would give me my very own whole crab….bliss.
My favorite way to have crab is cracking it myself and eating it with homemade cocktail sauce (ketchup + horseradish + lemon). I also like to whip up some cream cheese with lemon, make a mound, then put the crab meat on top. Pour a bit of cocktail sauce on top and eat it with Triscuits….bliss!!!
Can’t get great crab here in Italy
The Maryland place mentioned multiple times is Evan’s Seafood. Unfortunately they have no web site (here’s a pic) and it’s difficult to get to, but it’s worth the effort! The local Navy base, NAS Patuxent River, takes bigwigs from out-of-town over there, so the lobby’s full of all kinds of signed photos from Blue Angels and such. I used to live in the area and have enjoyed the food there over at least a dozen visits. The brown kraft paper on the table is decidedly necessary!
So, CSS must stand for “Cranial Septic Seepage” because, as you say, all the shit leaks out.
Let’s see here … missing pages … Videos … Store …
I have lots of ways I like to eat crab! The one that freaks people out the most is the full-on deep-fried Chesapeake Bay soft shell blue crab sandwich, where the whole thing is used (pincers and all) and you just bite into it. Great to eat in front of someone with a weak stomach!
I live on the other side of Florida, where the blue crab use to thrive until the onslaught of unfettered growth turned the Indian and Banana rivers into a slurry of fertilizer enriched toxic goo and killed off the oyster and crab industries.
Nothing simpler or better than a backyard crab boil with some good friends or family. Taters, shrimp, crabs, corn, sausages and some onions in a big pot with mucho cold beers.
I use to love buying fresh live local crabs at Island Crab Company in my town but now it’s a TGI Friggin’ Friday or some other loathsome monument to the folly of having an open border. It’s not the Mexican invasion that’s killing Florida, it’s the unchecked masses from north of the Mason-Dixon line that are doing it, one early-bird-condo-on-the-golf-course at a time.
But I digress. Only a cookbook can stop me now.
Boiled and spread out on newspaper all over the table, with dishes of melted butter here and there.
The shrimps look a little scary…but sound good
The only way I have ever eaten crab is by crunching open their little legs and sucking out their delightful flesh!!! Oh baby!!!!!