All You Can Eat

Last night Beau and I joined Donna and family to celebrate Mimi’s birthday at Gilligan’s. It’s probably been 1.5 years since I’ve been there. In attendance was a man named Ronnie who, as I saw, is a big eater. He’s a very tall slender man, but wow, he can pack away the food. And I didn’t know this until the drive home, but when he comes into town they always go where he can get all-you-can-eat shrimp. Gilligan’s it was. He ordered before everyone so he could get a start on the fun.

 

Let me set up the situation for you. He started the evening off with a couple of hushpuppies, a green salad and order of French fries while his first batch of shrimp were cooking. He likes them boiled. The first plate came out. About 20 shrimp on the plate. The second plates comes out. Then the third, the fourth…. And by the end of the evening he had eaten at least 8 plates of shrimp, but I think it was nine. With 20 shrimp on each plate, that comes out to 160 shrimp and the sides. Holy cow! That’s a lot of shrimp. It was actually entertaining to watch!

 

“All-You-Can-Eat” Shrimp Nacional

 

2 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled and butterflied

McCormick’s Montreal Steak seasoning

2 T EVOO

1-2 peri-peri or other hot chili peppers, such as jalapenos, seeded and roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 bottle of dark stout beer, such as Guinness

1 bay leaf, dried or fresh

Juice of 1 lemon

2-3 T unsalted butter

½ c heavy cream

Salt and pepper

1 T chopped cilantro, a palmful

 

Coat shrimp with grill seasoning. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 T olive oil. When oil is hot, place about half of shrimp in skillet in single layer and quickly sear them, about 1 minute each side. Transfer to plate and reserve. Repeat with remaining shrimp.

 

Add remaining T olive oil to skillet, then add hcili pepper and garlic cand cook 1 minute. Add beer and bay leaf. Boil over high heat to reduce liquid by half.

 

Return shrimp to skillet with sauce and cook, turning once, until just cooked thorugh, 1-2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and remove bay leaf. Sti rin butter and cream and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with cilantro and serve.