Black Pepper Shrimp and Dipping Sauce

Shell-on shrimp is a must here. If it's pre-shelled the taste isn't half as good and the pepper is too strong.
Get plenty of napkins and sit down to an incredibly delicious appetizer.

Serve with crusty bread to dip in the buttery, lemony, peppery pan juices!

Make citrus marinade.

Crush garlic and add to marinade. Set aside.

Rinse shrimp.

Pat dry with paper towels.  Place shrimp in a plastic bag and pour in marinade. 

Marinate 15-20 minutes at room temperature or up to four hours in the refrigerator.

Shred the cold butter with a cheese grater. 

Shredded butter

Grind the black pepper.

Position the top oven rack to the second highest setting.  Heat the oven to broil.  Pour the shrimp and marinade onto a jellyroll pan. 

Sprinkle half the black pepper on the top.  Toss and sprinkle the rest. 

Distribute the butter as evenly as you can.  Broil five minutes. 

Stir and broil an additional 2-3 minutes or until done. 

Shrimp cooks fast and as soon as both sides are pink, it’s ready.  Don’t overcook. 

Move the shrimp to a serving tray.

Scrape the pan juices and seasonings into a shallow bowl. 

Serve immediately.  It’s a messy dish so have plenty of napkins on hand.  Slice and serve the crusty bread with the pan juices as dipping sauce.

Problems

Using the right shrimp - The biggest problem is using shelled shrimp. The shell adds a lot of flavor and the seasonings will be too strong if you use shelled shrimp.

Overcooking - Shrimp cooks quickly. As soon as it's pink on both sides it's done. It gets tough when overcooked.

Black Pepper Shrimp and Dipping Sauce
serves 6-8 as an appetizer
serves 4 as part of a main dish

(see citrus marinade for more details)
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
1/2 c olive oil
1 1/2 t kosher salt
3 cloves garlic

2 lbs (1)uncooked, shell-on, deveined, jumbo shrimp (21-30 count), thawed
1 loaf crusty bread (Ciabatta, French Bread)

3 T fresh ground black pepper (this is a lot of pepper, but just trust me it’s great!)
1/2 c unsalted butter

1. Cut and squeeze juice from lemons.  Pick out any seeds.  Add salt and garlic. Process using a blender, hand blender or food processor.  With the machine running, add the olive oil in a slow steady stream.  Process until emulsified, about 15 seconds. 

2. Leave the shell on the shrimp, rinse, and (2)pat dry with paper towels.  Place shrimp in a plastic bag and pour in marinade.  Marinate 15-20 minutes at room temperature or up to (3)four hours in the refrigerator.

3. (4)Shred the cold butter with a cheese grater. Grind the black pepper.

4. Position the top oven rack to the second highest setting.  Heat the oven to broil.  Add the black pepper to the shrimp and coat well. Pour the shrimp and marinade onto a jellyroll pan.  Distribute the butter as evenly as you can on the top.  Broil five minutes.  Turn each shrimp and broil an additional 2-3 minutes or until done.  Shrimp cooks fast so as soon as both sides are pink, it’s ready.  Don’t (5)overcook. 

5. Move the shrimp to a serving tray.  Scrape the pan juices and seasonings into a shallow bowl.  Serve immediately.  It’s a messy dish so have plenty of napkins on hand.  Slice and serve the crusty bread with the pan juices as the dipping sauce.

Notes

1.  Uncooked- This will only work if the shrimp is uncooked
Shell-on- The shell gives the shrimp a lot of flavor, I’ve tried this with shelled shrimp and it really isn’t     
  very good.
Deveined- this is the least important in the list, it’s just more fun to eat if it’s already deveined.
21-30 count- You’ll be peeling these as you eat them, so it’s best to use large shrimp to make it
worth the time.  The count is how many shrimp per pound there are.  The lower the number the larger
the shrimp.
Thawed- To marinate the shrimp properly it’s important that they are thawed.  If they aren’t the olive
oil with freeze and clump. Shrimp thaws quickly. The best way is in the refrigerator overnight, but in a pinch you can put them in a bowl of cold water for a half hour or so.

2. It is important to pat meat dry before marinating, so that the marinade will stick to the meat and evenly flavor it.

3. The marinade is very acidic and will break the shrimp down if it marinates too long.

4. Shredding the butter will allow you to distribute it more evenly.  Make sure it is cold or it won’t shred.