Shrimp and Sweet Garlic Cloves with Cilantro and Lime
Ingredients:
2 Heads Garlic 1 Pound Shrimp, peel and devein 1 Pinch Salt, Oregano, Crushed Red Pepper
2 Tbs. Cilantro, chopped 1 Tbs. Lime Juice
1/4 Cup Olive Oil*
* You will not use all of the oil in this recipe.
Break up two heads of garlic; Don't peel.
Place garlic into a pot and boil for about 8-10 minutes or until garlic is just soft but not mushy.
Strain garlic from pot and let cool.
When garlic is cool, peel it from the skin.
It is very easy to just peel a bit of skin and pop out the garlic.
Place oil into a pan.
Add garlic and cook over a medium heat.
Do not cook over high heat or the garlic will taste burnt.
Stir the garlic from time to time.
This whole process will take about 5 minutes.
While garlic is cooking you can also tilt the pan to submerge the garlic in the hot oil for a few seconds.
Remove the garlic and oil from the pan when the garlic is lightly browned.
Place into a small bowl and reserve.
Leave a tablespoon of oil in the pan.
Leave the pan on medium heat and add the shrimp.
It is best to lay the shrimp into the pan one at a time, leaving enough room between shrimp so that they can cook evenly.
Once you have all of the shrimp in the pan you can sprinkle salt, pepper and oregano evenly across all.
The shrimp should cook for a total of three minutes on the first side.
Turn shrimp over, add all of the cooked garlic.
Do not add much oil as the shrimp don't need it.*
Cook shrimp for one or two minutes.
Add the cilantro and lime to the shrimp.
Mix all together and serve.
*You can use the oil in a grain dish or drizzled over steamed vegetables.
New Taste Thinking:
People are always surprised when you tell them it is o.k. to eat a whole clove of garlic. The reason that the garlic is so sweet and mellow is because it has been boiled or blanched. Blanching is a wonderful technique when applied to garlic. The resulting flavor from blanching and pan frying the garlic is different that just chopping and cooking the garlic. As strange as it may seem, the garlic cloves sort of become the vegetable in this dish. The blanched and fried garlic is also great to use with any lean protein such as pork, chicken, fish and so on. It also goes great with broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini.
