Shrimp Oreganata
Cooking is a primitive life skill that, in the process of the average busy lifestyle, a good handful of us seem to have forgotten about, however I am a firm believer that everyone should know how to cook something in one way or another. I’m not saying you need to attend Le Cordon Bleu in France or work at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, but having a few tasty dishes under your belt can not only impress your friends and family but give you the confidence to try cooking as much as you can.
This dish that I’m going to share with you, shrimp oreganata, is a perfect example of a dish that is easy to prepare yet delivers on big flavor.
Shrimp oreganata involves a dual cooking method where you bake the shrimp is baked with a crunchy breadcrumb mixture and a bit of wine before being broiled for even more depth of flavor. Baking shrimp tends to offer a lot more flavor than boiling, if you ask me, in fact one of the issues with boiling is that some of the shrimp’s natural sweet flavor ends up getting lost inside the water, baking the shrimp allows them to hold onto that flavor while also getting a slightly brown exterior.
This is a great dish to be cooked alongside another roasted item like roasted broccoli or perhaps alongside a baked pasta dish. However you serve it, this shrimp oreganata is guaranteed big flavor for a small price and a short amount of cooking time.
How to Buy and Prepare Shrimp
One thing to know is that shrimp come in a variety of sizes with labels like colossal, jumbo and large, but those names are somewhat interchangeable depending on where you’re buying your shrimp from.
One thing to look for are numbers such as 12-15 or 18-20, these numbers tell you roughly how many shrimp you’ll get per pound, so 12-15 shrimp will give you 12-15 shrimp per pound.
For this recipe, you’ll need 10-count shrimp, which might also be labelled as colossal.
Now, preparing shrimp isn’t hard, but it does require you to get your hands a bit dirty.
If your shrimp comes with the heads on, then you’ll want to grab the heads at the base and pull them off first.
Begin by grabbing the little legs at the bottom of the shrimp and pulling them off, you can then pull the shell off in layers. By the way, don’t throw away shrimp shells, you can save them to make a delicious shrimp stock, perfect for stews or risotto.
Some recipes will require you to remove the shrimp tails, in this one you’ll keep them on, but if you needed to remove the tails like for a pasta dish, you can do so by simply squeezing the tail at the base.
These days, a lot of grocery store shrimp will come deveined, but if not then here’s what to do. Run a pairing knife along the upper part of the shrimp to split that open, you will then see the “vein” on the inside, which you can then pull out with the tip of your knife. I know we call it the vein, but it’s actually part of the shrimp’s digestive tract which, believe me, you don’t want to be eating.
Serves 4
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
1 1/2 pounds of colossal (10-count) shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined, see above.
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
1/4 tsp chili flakes
2/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs
8 whole sprigs of parsley, roughly chopped, stems and all*
2 tbsp freshly grated Pecorino Romano
2 tsp dried oregano
1 large lemon, zested and halved, plus additional lemon wedges for serving
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Fresh oregano leaves, for topping. (optional)
It might sound odd that we’re chopping up the parsley stems, but in fact the stems of soft herbs like parsley, basil and cilantro contain a lot of flavor.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F/220 C, make sure there’s a rack in the middle of the oven, and line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Toss your prepared shrimp with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil plus a pinch of salt and the chili flakes. Lay the shrimp onto the sheet pan in a single layer.
For the topping, combine the breadcrumbs with the remaining 3 tbsp of oil, the Pecorino, dried oregano, and lemon zest. Sprinkle that all over the shrimp.
Pour the white wine and Worcestershire onto the bottom of the sheet pan, then bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the shrimp turn pink and are no longer translucent. Switch on the broiler, then let it go for 1-2 minutes, or until the shrimp take on a slightly golden crust. Remove from the oven, squeeze the lemon juice over the tops. Sprinkle with the fresh oregano and serve with lemon wedges.
