Barbeque Shrimp

Whatever images this title may conjure up in your mind, they are not shellfish slathered with BBQ sauce, and then thrown on a grill. This originated, I think, at Pascal's Manale restaurant on Napoleon Ave. in New Orleans.

This recipe takes me right back to sitting around Grandma and Grandaddy Seghers dinner table. Grandad would make these with so much beer and butter and garlic, and let me tell you, the sauce that resulted was heaven. We'd be served this dish in big soup bowls, and sit around talking, peeling, and eating this shrimp.

(The real key to this dish, is the crusty french bread that you use to sop up all that delicious sauce!)

So, I didn't have Grandaddy's recipe (although I really want it) but one night I was feeling homesick, and I had some frozen shrimp, and I decided to make up my own version. It's not quite up to par with Grandad's, but it is still pretty fantastic.

Barbeque Shrimp

3 lb. Shrimp (heads still on) I would have used Gulf Shrimp, but sadly, they are nowhere to be found in Brooklyn
3 Sticks Butter
½ Large White Onion
4 Cloves Garlic (Peeled and Smashed)
Olive Oil
Couple shakes of Worcestershire Sauce
1 or 2 Bottles Abita Amber Beer (Emeril uses white wine, but thats way too high-brow for me, plus, I remember Grandad using beer, and then he'd have a tall glass of it at dinner)

Juice of one lemon
3 or 4 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Coarse Kosher Salt (Dont oversalt!!)
2 tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
2 tbs. Crab/Shrimp Boil (Powdered)
2 Quart Saucepan
Baking dish

( By the way, I am very bad with measurements and I don't bother with them at all, so all spices are just estimates...you should taste the sauce along the way to make sure its shaping up)

Put saucepan on medium heat, drizzle a little olive oil into the saucepan, chop onion, then sauté, then add crushed garlic, then the two sticks of butter. After the butter has completely melted, add each seasoning while stirring – garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, crab boil, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the olive oil, squeeze in the lemon, stir, and then add the whole bottle of beer...the other one will keep you fortified while you make the rest of this dish:-)
When the foam from the beer subsides, pour the sauce over the shrimp in the baking dish.

Place into a 350 degrees oven for about 10 minutes, stir, then another 5 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and cooked.
Remove from oven, serve in a great big bowl (with lots of the sauce), grab the crusty french bread, and dig in!