Frozen shrimp always has a nasty habit of leaving its scent on your hands, clothes, kitchen surfaces, and anything it touches. No matter how hard you try to buy from reputable establishments, it's always a risky venture. Fresh shrimp is not cheap, and the supermarket does offer a fair price for these delicacies. We usually eat shrimp with a salad and fried potatoes, so I prefer not to fry the shrimp as well. To avoid tainting your hands and clothes with the smell that frozen shrimp may leave behind, try boiling them in plain lemon juice mixed with water.
For a start, clean frozen shrimps while they are still partly frozen, as it is much easier to work with them (they are not so slippery or limp). Chop off the head and squeeze the flesh till the black vein is visible. Pull it out (it should come away easily) and discard it (the heads can be used for making stock). Squeeze a dozen lemons straight into a pot. Toss in the shrimp and let them cook till their flesh has gone from creamy transparent to pinky red (the colour change will be obvious). They only need about 10 minutes. Let them cool in the lemon juice.
When they are cold enough to handle, shell them, leaving the tail intact. They can now be dressed with olive oil, or used in any other way in a meal. Shelling them before serving with the tails attached helps eaters keep their hands and fingers clean while enjoying them.This post is dedicated to Christine Senior, who told me never to boil shrimps in plain water.
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MORE SEAFOOD RECIPES:
Bakaliaros - bakaliaraki
Octopus stew
Mussels sauce
Psarosoupa
Squid stew
Squid fried
Taramasalata
Great tip! I just learned something new today...!
ReplyDeleteMost frozen seafood is now done right on the ship...frozen fresh they call it.
ReplyDeleteI've been quite happy with the frozen product here.
12 lemons - you must live where they grow on trees! (that's a joke). I can't tell from the picture, how much water do you add?
ReplyDeletetrue, lemons aren't in short supply here, although there have been years when the supermarket was full of south american lemons, for some reason. for the shrimps in the photo, i added about a cup of water - shrimps cook so quickly, that you only need to cover them in liquid, and they'kll be done in no time.
ReplyDeletein greece, we suffer from power cuts on a regular basis - they're practically scheduled just at the right time to stuff up your day. there is no guarantee that when yo buy the stuff, it hasn't defrosted and been frozen again, apart from the smell. and even if you buy it freshly frozen, by the time you get home in this overly warm (at the best of times) climate that we tolerate daily, the frozen goods will likely have defrosted if they are small delicate, like shrimp. s
so grin and bear it; cooking seafood in lemon juice is akin to cooking meat in spices. it's done for similar reasons!