Spicy Orange Breaded Shrimp

spicy orange breaded shrimp

While this site focuses on incorporating more vegetables into our diets, I will occasionally include seafood and meat recipes as they come up.  This particular recipe includes shrimp, which is very delicious and a common feature of the American diet; however, many of the options at the store are not sustainably caught and many of the best choices are unavailable. The Monterey Bay Aquarium puts out a helpful website and pocket guide to help you make informed sustainable choices when it comes to eating seafood.  They even have a smartphone app you can load onto your phone, which is really handy.  As for the recipe, this is another one that largely came from Flavors of Southern Italy by Erica DeMane.  The citrus flavors from the orange really complements the slight spice from chili peppers. One suggested alteration of this recipe if you plan on serving it with pasta, would be to add a light spicy orange butter and garlic sauce, so that the pasta has a bit more flavor.

Makes: 15-20 shrimp
Serves: 4-5
Prep Time: 30-45 min
Cook Time: 10-15 min

Ingredients:

15-20 shrimp
1/2-3/4 cup italian style bread crumbs
1/4 olive oil
1 large orange zest and juice
1-2 small dried red chilies (with or without seeds, depending on your spice tolerance)
3 garlic cloves, minced
6-8 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
salt to taste

Directions:

• preheat oven to 500º F
• clean and peel shrimp leaving the tail
• combine bread crumbs, zest, chilies, basil, garlic and salt
• mix in olive oil until crumbly and the oil is well absorbed, add more oil if needed
• one at a time pack the the shrimp with the bread crumb mixture until well coated, making sure to place some bread crumbs in the dorsal slit of the shrimp
• place individually in a glass baking dish
• drizzle a bit of extra olive oil over each
• back for 8-10 minutes or until the tails are pink and the bread crumbs are golden brown
• serve with angel hair pasta

Potential Alternatives:

• use lime and cilantro in place of the orange and basil
• try it with panko style bread crumbs or make your own