Garlic Shrimp

This recipe is from the current issue of Fine Cooking. I think the official name is Garlic Shrimp with Lemon Zest and Basil. It's from an article on garlic where the different facets of garlic flavor are explored. As you know, garlic can be mellow, like when it is roasted, or sharp when used raw. The garlic shrimp is supposed to be an example of a dish with sharp garlic flavor and is intended to be a starter course. I think an appetizer should be incredibly savory. One delicious bite to make your wine taste even better. Unfortunately, this dish really fell short. I think it was too oily and the oil didn't take on as much garlic flavor as I would have liked (although I was careful to slowly toast the garlic in it.) The lemon and basil didn't really help to brighten things either.

To prepare it, you make a garlic oil (then separate the garlic chips from the oil) and bake the shrimp in the flavored oil. The cooked shrimp are then garnished with lemon zest, basil and the garlic chips. I was expecting a more intense "scampi-like" garlic flavor but it just was too heavy.

On the plus side, I think cooking a bunch of shrimp this way is great to do for a party. It is easy to have everything prepped and you can just put it together and pop it in the oven. I just would adjust the amount of oil to only barely coat the shrimp and I might increase the garlic, add some chopped parsley and figure out a way to get more lemon flavor in there. Like perhaps, cooking the lemon zest in the oil to infuse it. And it is hard to resist adding some breadcrumbs. In my opinion, breadcrumbs make everything taste better. All I know for sure is there is a better way.

Oh, and did you notice I made them with the spinach catalan. Raisins are so good in savory dishes!