Best 6 Mark Bittmans Famous Spicy Shrimp Recipes

SHRIMP ALLA MARINARA

Steps:

• Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 4 garlic cloves and cook just until golden and sizzling. Add half the shrimp, placing them in one layer in the pan. (If you crowd the shrimp, they will steam instead of fry.) Sprinkle with salt.
• Cook, turning once, just until lightly golden and pink around the edges, about 4 minutes total. With a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a plate. Discard garlic cloves. Repeat with remaining oil, garlic and shrimp.
• When all the shrimp are cooked, pour the sauce into the empty skillet, and bring to a lively simmer, stirring to scrape the bottom of the pan. Taste for salt and add more if needed.
• Stir in the shrimp, basil (if using) and parsley, and cook just until the shrimp are heated through. Serve immediately.

SPICY GRILLED SHRIMP

Steps:

• Start a charcoal or gas grill, or heat the broiler. Make the fire as hot as it will get, and put the rack close to the heat source.
• Mince garlic with salt; mix with cayenne and paprika, then make into a paste with olive oil and lemon juice. Smear paste on shrimp. Grill or broil shrimp, 2 to 3 minutes a side, turning once. Serve immediately or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.

SHRIMP MY WAY

Steps:

• Combine the oil and garlic in a skillet no larger than 10 inches across. Turn the heat to medium, and cook until the garlic begins to sizzle, then turn the heat to medium-low. When the garlic is blond, stir in cumin and paprika. Add the shrimp, and raise the heat to high.
• Cook, stirring occasionally and sprinkling with salt and cayenne, until the shrimp are all pink, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and add most of the parsley and the lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve garnished with the remaining parsley.

SHRIMP, MARK'S WAY

Steps:

• Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook carefully, lowering the heat as necessary, until the garlic is just colored; add the spices and stir.
• Raise the heat to medium and add the shrimp; sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook gently, turning once or twice, until nicely coated with the spices and oil and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
• Serve the shrimp with the pan juices, garnishing with the parsley and lemon wedges.

SHRIMP IN YELLOW CURRY

Steps:

• Put the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and chiles and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender and the mixture pasty. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring, for another minute.
• Add the coconut milk and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring only occasionally, until the mixture is reduced by about half. (The dish can be prepared to this point a few hours in advance.)
• Add the shrimp, a few pinches of salt, and a little black pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp release their liquid (the mixture will become quite moist again) and turn pink, 5 to 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon nam pla, stir, then taste and add the rest if necessary. Garnish with cilantro.
• Almost all shrimp are frozen before sale. So unless you're in a hurry, you might as well buy them frozen and defrost them yourself; this will guarantee you that they are defrosted just before you cook them, therefore retaining peak quality.
• There are no universal standards for shrimp size; large and medium don't mean much. Therefore, it pays to learn to judge shrimp size by the number per pound, as retailers do. Shrimp labeled 16/20, for example, contain sixteen to twenty per pound; those labeled U-20 require fewer (under) twenty to make a pound. Shrimp from fifteen to about thirty per pound usually give the best combination of flavor, ease (peeling tiny shrimp is a nuisance), and value (really big shrimp usually cost more than $15 a pound).
• On deveining: I don't. You can, if you like, but it's a thankless task, and there isn't one person in a hundred who could blind-taste the difference between shrimp that have and have not been deveined.

SHRIMP IN SPICY LIME SAUCE

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, sugar and salt. Place oil in a 10- or 12-inch skillet, and turn the heat to high. A minute later, add the garlic and chili flakes and cook the garlic until it just begins to brown. Immediately add the lime juice mixture all at once, and cook until it reduces by half, or even more, 3 to 5 minutes. There should be only about 1/4 cup of liquid in the skillet, and it should be syrupy.
• Add the shrimp, and cook over high heat. The shrimp will give off liquid of their own and begin to turn pink almost immediately. After about 2 minutes, stir contents of pan. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until all the shrimp are pink, about 4 minutes total. Taste, adjust seasoning, garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.