Proud Italian Cook

Shrimp Oreganata is a super flavorful, Italian American baked seafood dish. What’s nice about this dish is that it can be prepared ahead of time and it only takes a few minutes to bake. It’s perfect for a party, midweek meal or just a great seafood option when you need one.

Shrimp oreganata can be the ultimate appetizer or served as a main along with a salad or vegetables of your choice or just pair it with some pasta, you can’t go wrong.

What I feel takes this recipe to another level is making your own breadcrumbs by using up leftover chunks of bread you might have around.  In my house it most certainly is a baguette, crusty Italian bread, ciabatta, or I’ve even used sourdough, good bread really makes a difference here it’s so much better than store bought which is too finely ground with no flavor.

It’s a simple procedure to make your own, take your chunks of bread and whirl it in a food processor into small chunks, then spread it onto a baking sheet single layer, bake til light golden at 350 degrees F. tossing and checking them and making sure they’ve also dried out.

After they’ve cooled down you can either place them back into the food processor and whirl to your desired crumb size, or put them into a zip lock bag and tap the bag a little with a rolling pin to get your desired size, that’s what I did.

The breadcrumbs are then seasoned well and drizzled with olive oil which will eventually create a delicious golden and crunchy crust on top of the shrimp.

Speaking of shrimp, don’t waste your time using small shrimp, only large or jumbo will do. I used the large size for this and I prefer buying deveined with the easy peel so I can leave the tail on. Side note: I usually buy mine at Whole Foods.

It’s also important to butterfly the shrimp because as you can see above it leaves you with a nice flat area to pack on your seasoned oreganata breadcrumbs.

To butterfly shrimp, make sure they’re cleaned and deveined, take off the shell up to the tail but leave the tails on. Use a knife and slice along the back curve starting from the head area but don’t cut all the way through, then open it up like a book.

Bake them on a foil or parchment lined sheet pan drizzled with olive oil, then drizzle a little more on each stuffed shrimp before placing them into a pre-heated 425 degrees F. oven for maybe 10 minutes or so depending on the size of the shrimp.

Serve immediately and enjoy every bite!

Shrimp Oreganata With Homemade Breadcrumbs

 

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Author: Marie

Ingredients

• 1 dozen large or jumbo shrimp, in the shell
• 2 cups homemade breadcrumbs (as stated in post)
• 2 Tablespoons of very soft, room temp unsalted butter
• ½ cup, chopped parsley, (more for garnish)
• 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons, grated cheese
• pinch of red pepper flakes, (optional)
• oregano or Italian seasonings
• zest of 1 lemon
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• lemon wedges and parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Peel, devein and butterfly the shrimp leaving the tails on, then pat them down of any moisture, (directions are in the post).
2. Drizzle a little olive oil on the shrimp along with a small sprinkling of salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl add the bread crumbs, butter, garlic, zest, parsley, red pepper flakes and grated cheese, mix well.
4. Drizzle olive oil into the mixture until you see a wet sand look, then taste for seasoning to your liking.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F. then line a sheet pan with foil or parchment, drizzle lightly with olive oil.
6. Top each shrimp with a good amount of the seasoned breadcrumbs.
7. Place shrimp on sheet pan, drizzle them with a little olive oil and bake around ten minutes or so more or less according to your oven and size of shrimp.
8. Don't overcook them, place on a platter garnished with lemon wedges and parsley and serve immediately.

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