Big giant honking shrimp. With the heads attached. They are raw. There’s about 2lbs of them
What do you make?
(yes, I’m trying to solicit ideas for dinner)
Ever since seeing them made at a New Orleans area eatery on some food show, I have always wanted to try Louisiana style BBQ Shrimp in the worst way. Give me a big pan of shrimp swimming in this BBQ spice and garlic compound butter sauce and a crusty baguette and I’d call it dinner all by itself, wouldn’t need anything else, except maybe a beer.
Here it is, New Orleans BBQ Shrimp from Man vs. Food.
Steamed with garlic and butter. Simple food, simple yum.
Decapitate, peel and devein your shrimp. Toss with zest and juice of two limes, and a tbsp or so of chopped cilantro. Take the top, seeds and ribs out of a medium jalapeno, mince and toss in with the shrimp.
Preheat oven to 400F. Put shrimp in a 9 or 10 inch glass casserole. Crumble 8 oz queso fresco over the shrimp, top with plain bread crumbs and oregano. Bake for about 15 minutes (shrimp should be pink throughout.) Garnish with lime zest or cilantro.
Enjoy with your favorite beer.
Clean them and grill them.
If you’ve got a lot of people to feed with that two pounds (or want food for the week), saute them, add a couple chopped sauteed onions and red peppers plus garlic, four cans of cannelini beans, a couple bunches of spinach (coarsely chopped), some crushed red pepper for mild heat, and dress with good olive oil. I like to cut the shrimp up so the pieces are more or less bean-sized but do what you like.
Good as a warm or cold salad.
If the heads are on, I assume the shells are too in which case I would recommend skewering and grilling them whole - head, shells, and all. Deveining can either be done at the table or beforehand depending on how formal you want to get and how you’d prefer to plate the shrimp. Shells on retain moisture and flavor even though they’re only over the coals for a couple minutes a side.
That’s what I’d do anyhow. I’d plate them shell on, but with the shell slit open and deveined, propped against a mound of ginger & chili mashed potatoes surrounded with any number of creamy sauces, but likely something that features garlic. Toss on a few microgreens for color.
Remove heads, shells, and sand veins. Set aside (ETA: set aside the shrimp, not the heads and shells. Throw those away).
Separate four eggs. Discard the yolks. Beat the whites until foamy (but not to stiff peaks). Stir in 2/3 cup of cornstarch to make a batter. Put the shrimp into the batter.
Heat a couple of inches of oil in a kettle. Fry the battered shrimp until golden brown. Set aside on paper towels to drain.
Make a glaze with 4Tbsp mayo, 2Tbsp honey, 1Tbsp sweetened condensed milk. Coat the fried shrimp in the glaze. Toss in some candied walnuts.
Serve over steamed jasmine rice.
Eat a fortune cookie.
Read the fortune.
Use the numbers on the fortune to buy a lottery ticket.
Use your winnings to send me a large amount of money in exchange for this recipe.
Gadzooks! Where are you all from? (Nice places I’m sure 
)
Here in Chesapeake country shrimp are sprinkled liberally with Old Bay and steamed. Dump them in a bowl to peel and eat.
ps- Leaving the head on will create more flavor… cleaning two pounds of shrimp is a lot of work.
This is what my sister’s computer would say at selected mealtimes.
Oh YUMMMMMMMMM!!!
Nooooooo!!! Save the heads and shells for stock! And 2 lb head/shell on shrimp is probably enough for only 2-3 people as a main dish.
You can barbecue it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That’s about it.
Myself sick eating them.
Seriously, I chop the heads off, devein 'em, then sautee the scrimps in olive oil and garlic.
Squirt some lemon juice on em and woweee!
No, set them free!
I’ve never peeled raw shrimp, much less had any with heads on them. Is it harder to peel raw shrimp? (and 2 pounds, with heads - that isn’t a lot when you behead/peel. I would just steam, chill, and serve with horseradish-y cocktail sauce, being an easily pleased type :).)
Saute them with pasta and veggies!
Turn that into 1 lb, and you have what I have in my freezer (1 lb of U15 Gulf Shrimp).
I’m thinking New Orleans style BBQ shrimp, which isn’t really barbecued, but more cooked in a worcestershire, garlic and butter sauce.
Barring that, I’m thinking Shrimp Creole sounds awfully good, and so does just boiling them with some Zatarain’s.