For the holidaze, my husband had a taste for shrimp cocktail, with my own home made Cocktail Sauce, of course, so, since we were at a store known for their spendy, but usually quite good stuff; we picked up a (two pound!) bag of frozen cooked shrimp, planning for a bit of a treat.
And then, we tried the shrimp.
And, well, were both disappointed, but really glad we hadn’t planned on serving it to friends. It wasn’t bad, per se, it was just…
there.
My cocktail sauce, of course, rocked; but I obviously needed to plan something else for the lion’s share of organic shrimp remaining in my freezer.
And then, I came across…
Shrimp Toast.
And thought, “This. Could. Work!”
And it did.
INGREDIENTS
•8 oz deveined shrimp
•3 tbsp mayonnaise
•3 tbsp butter, melted*
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce – or your fave hot sauce, to taste
•1/4 tsp garlic powder
•1/4 tsp black pepper
•1/4 cup diced celery
•Naan or ciabatta
•Fresh basil, chopped
*If you like, skip the butter and add three tablespoons of cheese. I think that Boursin would be a boss here.
Note: the original recipe I found on line called for using the whit and light green parts of scallions; but we had a dinner guest who is, however inconceivably, anti-onion; so I used finely chopped celery.
Our shrimp came cooked and tail on, so I removed the tails.
Chop your shrimp – by hand or in a food processor – until you have small shrimp pieces. If you use a processor, pulse the shrimp so you don’t end up with shrimp paste. Which, I guess, you could still use.
In a medium bowl, stir the shrimp together with the mayonnaise, butter or cheese, hot sauce, garlic powder, black pepper and celery (or chopped scallion) until blended.
Transfer to a covered bowl and stash in the fridge for an hour or so, or until you are ready to make the shrimp toast.
When ready to toast, heat your oven to 400º and place a rack in a rimmed baking pan.
Note: I used roasted garlic naan, which I thought gave the shrimp toast a nice kick of extra flavor.
Arrange two sheets of naan on the baking pan and spread with the shrimp mixture.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the top is browned and the naan is crispity.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the chopped fresh basil, then slice and serve.
For four folk having just finished cocktails and munchies, one naan (there are two in the package) was plenty; but that meant that I could give the leftovers to anti-onion guy, who seemed pretty happy with it.