Beer & Lime Marinated Shrimp

Seafood is one of my new interests.  I've had some delicious successes with salmon and tilapia, and have been itching to try something new.  I grabbed a bag of raw shrimp and began pondering options.

Now I'll admit, after checking out some random recipes online I was a tad nervous that I was going to have to rip off the heads of some shrimp.  Before I was really into cooking, I had made a whole chicken for dinner and could barely tolerate reaching inside to prepare it.  Fortunately, these little shrimp had only a tail and shell to worry about, so getting them ready was easy.  I thawed them overnight then simply squeezed right at the base of the tail to push the shrimp out.  Way easier than anticipated.  The majority of them were deveined (first learning of these "veins" made me uninterested in shrimp for years!), so I rinsed them off and put them in a bowl.  Fun fact on the tails and shells--I tossed them this time around, but after speaking to my co-worker who is an educated and experienced cook, it's best to keep them for other uses like flavored butter.  Next time!

So I had found some recipes but ultimately decided to just throw something together.  After checking out y fridge supplies, I decided to use beer and lime juice as the main ingredients and just added seasonings from there.  I let the shrimp marinate in the mixture for an hour in the fridge.

After the shrimp had soaked for a while, I melted a tablespoon of butter in a skillet.  I was going to just add the shrimp, but figured since there wasn't too much marinade I would just dump the whole bowl in and let the shrimp cook in the beer.

I flipped the shrimp after about 2-3 minutes as I could see it turning pink in color.

After another few minutes, I removed the shrimp from the skillet.  They were so good!

I had the shrimp with some rice and poured some extra sauce on.  The shrimp was super tender and really tasty and I am super proud that I've now tried making shrimp at home.   I have another half a pound to use, so who knows what's next!  Shrimp scampi or popcorn shrimp perhaps?  Stay tuned...

Beer Lime Shrimp Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 pound raw shrimp
1/3 cup beer
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

Remove tail and shell from shrimp and rinse. In a bowl, combine, beer, lime juice, parsley, salt, and cayenne pepper. Marinate shrimp for 30 minutes to an hour in the mixture. Melt butter over medium heat in cast iron or nonstick skillet. Pour in shrimp and marinade and cook 2-3 minutes, until shrimp begins turning a pale pink; flip shrimp and continue cooking another 2-3 minutes until cooked throughout.