Well. . .not everyone will agree with me, and by not everyone I mean my entire family. Dave hates shrimp. He just about gags at the thought of it. Justin too. Tessa won't even try it, and Ava will take a few bites as a "show of support" to me. Needless to say, I went a long time not enjoying shrimp to the full extent that one should enjoy shrimp to. UNTIL. . . I realized that I can sub shrimp in MY OWN meal and still let them eat their own boring version! Genious! So when I make a pasta dish with chicken, I'll saute a few shrimp and have that instead! Or when I do fajitas, I'll do the steak and chicken for them, but again, saute up a few shrimp for my meal! I am so smart.
I have no idea when my love of shrimp started, but I DO remember my grandma taking me to Red Lobster on occasion as a child and indulging me in my tasty passion for seafood. (FYI: Red Lobster as an adult=not nearly as classy as you remember it being when you were a kid.) I've come to realize that when it comes to ordering shrimp in a restaurant, I almost always end up disappointed. It's either too salty, over cooked and rubbery, or served too cold. I like my shrimp cooked just enough that it's warm, pink on the outside and "POPS!" when you bite into it! WITH THE EXCEPTION of ordering shrimp in OCEANSIDE restaurants where it's their specialty!!!!!
Some of the tastiest shrimp dishes I've ever eaten have been on our vacations . . one of my favorite things about traveling to ocean destinations is the fresh seafood:
Catch 31 in Virginia Beach, VA. . .BEST Coconut Shrimp EVER!
Chicks Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach, VA. . . mouthwatering Shrimp Taco Salad!
Frenchy's Rockaway Grill in Clearwater, FL. . . SECOND best Coconut Shrimp!
Surf Rider in Virginia Beach, VA. . . most amazing Seafood Alfredo you'll ever eat!
PInchers Crab Shack in Naples, FL. . . a Shrimp PoBoy that will you fill you up, but leave you wanting more!
The Dock in Naples, FL. . . Shrimp. Nachos. Need I say more?
Well, to finally wrap it up, tonight my family wanted to make flatbread pizzas. . .which did not sound good to me at all. . .theirs all looked like this:
I like to keep a bag of UNCOOKED frozen shrimp on hand in the freezer for JUST these types of occasions! They ate their boring pizza, and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed my special treat!
SHRIMP FLATBREAD PIZZA
( I just made one pizza, but you can make many more if you'd like!)
1 piece of flatbread. (Naan, or a similar brand.)
Garlic infused olive oil
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
8 large uncooked shrimp (thawed)
dab of butter
cracked black pepper
flat leaf parsley
1. Put your piece of flatbread on a cookie sheet and brush lightly with Garlic Infused Olive Oil.
2. I buy the fresh mozzarella that comes in a log, and just dice a little bit and toss it on top of the bread.
3. Toss in a preheated oven at 400 and let cook for about 10 minutes.
4. In a small saute pan, melt a tiny bit of butter. Once butter is melted, toss in your shrimp. I buy the tail-on, uncooked, peeled, and devained shrimp. Just tastes a bit fresher than the precooked stuff and that way I can be assured that it won't get that over cooked rubbery texture.
5. Cook until it looks just slightly pink and then turn over to finish cooking. This takes just minutes, or less depending on how hot your pan is. Once shrimp is cooked, remove from pan to prevent overcooking.
6. At this time I pull the tails off, and chop the shrimp into bite size pieces.
7. Take flatbread out of the oven, and top with shrimp and some chopped flat leaf parsley!
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