Like I said in a previous post, I really didn’t like shrimp unless it was deep fried and drenched in cocktail and tartar sauce.  I always passed on the shrimp cocktail – I thought the shrimp looked gross without any breading on them.  But one night, I hate to admit after I had a couple glasses of wine, I tried shrimp cocktail…yep…LOVE IT! Then I discovered a picture in a magazine  – I don’t remember which one it was; but they showed how to make shrimp shooters.  These are so neat!  I just recently did a cocktail party and they were the first to go!

I have tried steaming the shrimp and roasting the shrimp – I think that roasting it with olive oil, salt and pepper and some fresh lemon really is a step up and you don’t have to deal with a big pot of stinky shrimp water!

I also was in the dark on how it worked to buy shrimp.  I had no clue what the count meant.  Maybe I’m the only one that is clueless; but read on if you are clueless too 

You can buy pre-cooked shrimp but it’s always so much better if you have the time to cook your own (plus it’s cheaper to buy uncooked shrimp). I prefer using 13-15 shrimp or 16-20 shrimp (this number tells you how many shrimp are in one pound, the lower the number, the bigger the shrimp) If you can’t find these or they’re way too expensive, use 21-25 or 26-30…but I wouldn’t go much bigger for this recipe as each shrimp stands on his own in the shot glass. I also buy already peeled and deveined shrimp, there are chefs who say cooking shrimp in their shell is better, but I have not found that to be the case….do an experiment…it’s so much easier to either buy the already peeled shrimp or to even peel and devein them before cooking (just remember to leave the tail on)!

I found little shot glasses at the Dollar Store – they came in a pack of 50.

But you first want to Roast your shrimp – or steam which ever you prefer.  Here is how I roast mine:

2 #’s 12 – 15 count shrimp

1 T. olive oil

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 clove of minced garlic

Preheat oven @ 400 degrees.  Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on (we want them to hang on the shot glass).   Place the shrimp on a sheet pan with the olive oil, salt,  pepper and garlic and spread them out in a single layer.  Roast for 8-10 minutes, just until pink and firm and cooked through.  Remove from oven and squeeze some fresh lemon juice over all.  Let cool.

For the Wasabi Cocktail Sauce:

1 cup chili sauce or ketchup if you don’t have chili sauce

2 T. fresh lemon juice

1 T. fresh lime juice

1 T. wasabi (it’s a Japanese horseradish and can be found in the Asian section of the grocery store) It has a kick to it  ;0 )

2 tsp. prepared horseradish

1/4 tsp. worchestershire sauce

1 tsp. salt

Mix all together and chill for at least 2 hours.

To assemble the shooters:

Place a spoon of sauce on the bottom of the glass then hang 2 shrimp from each.  You can place these on a platter with some lemon wedges and then also put some fresh chives in the glasses for garnish 

Happy Cooking!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 10:55 am and is filed under Appetizers, Cold. Tags for this post: appetizers, shrimp, wasabi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.