One Happy Spoon.....and a Shrimp Boil!

So this idea has always fascinated me.  A shrimp boil... I have seen it done on the beach on television shows and in many, many pictures.  It just looked so cool.  To eat it with your hands and have the juice from the butter and the shrimp and the corn on the cob.  My family loves to eat all the good stuff in them. I enlisted the help of the middle child and told her that good things would be in store for her.  She agreed, after much prodding.  So I decided to give it a go!

I found a recipe in within my subscription to the "Food Network Magazine"  I consider this magazine a cookbook, because it is chocked full of recipes from start to finish.  The pictures are fantastic and it is a great read.  This recipe comes from the June 2010 issue.  There is a section for weeknight cooking and weekend cooking.  It took 40 minutes from start to finish (including the shrimp peeling).   The shrimp boil was in the weeknight cooking and it really was very easy!  I had the ingredients (only 9 of them) and one happy spoon!

 The kids loved it!  We were at the dinner table for 1 hour!  Usually we are done eating in 10 minutes even if I slaved over the stove for 2 hours.  They couldn’t get enough of it!  Even the little one!  We purchased a store-made baguette and I toasted it in the oven so we could dunk it in the buttery-shrimpy-spicy juice.  YUM!  We used our fingers and a ton paper towels and just got messy!  You should try it!  It is fun to treat the family to a messy meal and great dinner conversation!  

Shrimp Boil

3 lemons, 2 for the pot, 1 quartered for the plates

½ cup Old Bay Seasoning.  (Best stuff!)

8 cloves garlic, smashed

1 large red onion, quartered

6 sprigs fresh thyme (I used a tablespoon of the dry stuff)

1 lb baby red potatoes

4 ears corn, husked and snapped in half (I used 5)

1 ¼ lbs of shrimp, peeled (I peeled them before hand so I didn’t have to worry about the kids

2 tbs butter

Fill a large pot with 4 quartz of water.  Squeeze the lemon juice into the water and add the squeezed lemon halves.  Add the Old Bay, garlic and onion.  Tie the thyme sprigs together with kitchen twine and add to the pot (if you are using it).  Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer, and cook about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes to the pot and cook until just tender, about 10 minutes.  Add the corn and cook about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice along the back of each shrimp through the shells, remove the veins and rinse the shrimp.  Add to the pot, cover and cook until the shrimp curl and are just opaque, 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the shrimp and vegetables with a slotted spoon or skimmer to a large bowl.  Add the butter and about 1 cup broth to the bowl and toss until the butter is melted.  Transfer the shrimp and vegetables to a platter.  Serve with remaining broth and lemon wedges.