Barbecue (Not Really Barbecue) Shrimp Recipe

Last night we had a really good dinner which met my three favorite cooking criteria: Easy. Fast. Delicious.

This shrimp dish is one that my mom would make for us often, and the spicy buttery broth that the dish creates is perfectly sopped up with some toasted French bread.

I put together the shrimp entree yesterday afternoon, placed the lid on top of the Pyrex, and then just broiled it for 15 minutes once Camille went to bed. 

Here's my mom's version of the recipe, with relatively few measurements. I'll do my best to describe how much I used, but this is definitely a dish that will turn out deliciously even if you eyeball the ingredients!

Barbecue Shrimp

1 lb shrimp, in shells

Olive oil

Cracked black pepper

Salt

Juice from one lemon

Tabasco or Texas Pete

Worchestershire Sauce

1/2 stick butter, cut in pats

Place shrimp in shells in an ovenproof dish (I used an 8x8 glass dish). Drizzle shrimp with olive oil. Add pepper over all of the shrimp until they are black, then add more pepper. Stir around to coat. Add salt, juice from one lemon, and cover the shrimp well with hot sauce and worchestershire sauce. Place pats of butter all over the top of the dish.  Broil 10-15 minutes or until done. Serve with crusty bread for dipping in the broth!

I served this with sauteed green beans (olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder) and roasted cabbage slices (olive oil, steak seasoning). 

I had about 15-16 shrimp in the dish and it served two of us really well. Since shrimp doesn't reheat really well, I aimed for us to have no leftovers. I used the frozen bag of jumbo shrimp from Aldi which is just $5.99, thawed them under running water from the sink, and they were deliciously large and plump! 

So, why in the world is this dish called Barbecue Shrimp when the word "barbecue" for me conjures up the idea of a thick brown sauce over pulled pork? Apparently the original recipe has Creole roots, so I'll just go with the New Orleans folks here and agree that it's Barbecue Shrimp. 

(But shhhh ... if I had to rename it, the moniker would somehow capture the spicy, peppery, buttery broth that makes this dish stand out!)