Best Christmas Dinner Appetizer; Cajun Shrimp
Spicy Cajun Shrimp Appetizer
I found this great recipe on a cooking show years ago, and have adapted it to create my own spicy Cajun shrimp. While I do enjoy cooking shows, I find that after I have made a recipe once or twice, I can tweak it to make subtle improvements.
This great appetizer is a Christmas Dinner standby. Our family enjoys it on Christmas Eve and usually New Years Eve as well. When I host book club, summer parties and wine tastings, it is always a crowd favorite. The shrimp is good, in and of itself, but the buttery sauce is superb for dipping bread into.
It is pretty spicy, but very tasty. The shrimp is usually served on grilled slices of bread, and also makes a great addition to pasta or rice if you ever have any left over.
Another spicy shrimp recipe
Instructions
- Heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Melt butter and olive oil in a large baking dish.
- After the butter melts completely, add the herbs, vegetables and seasoning to the pan. Allow vegetables to simmer in the butter/olive oil mixture for about 5 minutes, until celery is soft and lightly golden.
- Remove pan from oven and decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- Stir in Wocestershire Sauce and lemon juice.
- Gently stir shrimp into the sauce and return pan to the oven. Bake shrimp until pink, about 10-15 minutes. Check shrimp and stir gently every five minutes.
- As an appetizer, serve on toasted slices of bread. As a dinner, serve over hot pasta or rice.
Cajun Shrimp Ingredients
- 1/2 Pound (2 sticks) Butter, Salted
- 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
- 3-4 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper, Add more or less to taste
- 3-4 teaspoons Black, white and red pepper, Ground
- 2 teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes, Add more or less to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 package (about 1/4 cup chopped) Fresh Rosemary, Remove needles (leaves) from stalks and chop
- 1 Clove Garlic, minced
- 1 Small Shallot, minced
- 3-4 ribs Celery, minced
- 1 bunch Parsley, minced
- 1/2 Cup Wocestershire Sauce
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice, fresh
- 5 pounds Shrimp, Raw, peeled and veined
Cook Time for Cajun Shrimp Appetizer
Prep time: 1 hour 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ready in: 1 hour 35 min
Yields: Serves up to two dozen people as an appetizer.
