Gamberoni alla Griglia
Shrimp baked and grilled with bread crumbs are paired with a delightfully different sauce and “smothered spinach” with an unexpected touch of Worcestershire.
Ingredients
- Shrimp
- Jumbo Shrimp - 2 pounds, shrimp in the shell
- Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Bread Crumbs - 1/2 cup, dried, fine, preferably homemade
- Fresh Thyme - 1 tablespoon, minced
- Sauce
- Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons
- Onion - 1/4 cup, chopped
- Garlic Cloves - 4, minced
- Shallots - 4, minced
- Dry white wine - 1/3 cup
- Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons
- Worcestershire sauce - 1-1/2 tablespoons
- Tarragon Vinegar - 1 tablespoon
- Fresh lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
- Thyme Sprigs - 2
- Italian (flat-leaf) Parsley - 1 tablespoon, minced, fresh
- Smothered Spinach
- Spinach - 1 pound, washed and stemmed
- Olive Oil - 3 tablespoons
- Garlic Cloves - 6, split
- Worcestershire Sauce - 1-1/2 tablespoons
- Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
To prepare the shrimp: Preheat the oven to 475 F. Peal the shrimp, leaving the last shell segment and the tail attached. Using a sharp paring knife, carefully slit each shrimp down the back and one third of the way to the tail. Remove the vein. Rinse the shrimp under cool water, drain well, and pat dry.
In a shallow baking dish, toss the shrimp with the oil, salt, and pepper. Place the bread crumbs and thyme in another shallow dish and toss the shrimp with the crumbs. Shaking off any excess crumbs, place each shrimp, split-side down and tail curled up and over the shrimp, in the baking dish. Wrap each tail section with a bit of foil and bake for 5 minutes. Place the dish under a broiler and broil for 1 minute; remove the foil and keep the shrimp warm.
To make the sauce: In a medium non-aluminum saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil and saute the onion, garlic, and shallots until they are translucent, 2 minutes. Add the wine, butter, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, and thyme. Lower the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine-meshed sieve and stir in the parsley. Set aside and keep warm.
To make the spinach: Wash the spinach twice in cool water and drain. In a large saute pan or skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and saute the garlic until golden but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until the spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and discard the garlic.
To serve: Spoon some of the spinach to one side on each serving plate. Spoon sauce over the rest of the plate. Arrange 4 or 5 shrimp, tails up, on the sauce on each plate.
