Baked shrimp appetizer recipe -
one of easy to make appetizers from Mediterranean shores

This baked shrimp appetizer recipe also make delicious quick snacks for surprise guests or a great finger food item for a party...

A lot of Italian cuisine can be intimidating, with multiple techniques used to make a dish, expensive ingredients and complex instructions. Someone like me can become quite frightened of these “classic”, complicated recipes.

However, this is a mistake, as there are plenty of easy Italian recipes...

In all ethnic cuisine, the basic cooking is simple. For most of human history cooking tools and techniques were simple. There was only heat, a simple pan or two and some basic ingredients.

Similarly, this shrimp appetizer recipe is made from simply tossing shrimps in an oil mixture followed by coating of breadcrumbs and cheese mixture. The shrimps are then baked in the oven and served with garnish and herbs.

Try this shrimp appetizer recipe next time your friends are over and you want something quick to serve as a delicious food item.

Baked shrimp ingredients

1 cup fine, dry seasoned breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 lbs unpeeled large shrimps
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1-2 lemons
½ teaspoon seasoned salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ cup of fresh lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil

Baked shrimp instructions

1. Clean and devein the shrimp, but leave the tails intact.

2. Coat two 13 x 9 inch pan with a cooking spray.

3. In a large bowl, mix cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, and garlic.

4. In a separate bowl combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

5. Put the shrimps in the oil mixture. Toss gently.

6. Take the shrimps and dip them in breadcrumb mixture.

7. Arrange the shrimps in an even layer in an even layer.

8. Bake at 400 F for 15 to 20 minutes or until the shrimp is pink, turning once.

9. Take the lemons and cut into wedges for garnish.

Makes for about 12 people.

Did you know:

Shrimps are a staple in the Mediterranean diet. It is no wonder that Italy is the fifth largest importer of shrimp in the world and that there are many shrimp recipes.

Here is a quote about shrimps from a food history book that you may find interesting:

"There have always been customers for shrimp ready to fall upon them whenever and wherever they could be delivered. In the ancient Mediterranean world, where fishing was on an artisanal scale and almost everybody lived close to the water, the Greeks preferred the larger types of shrimp even to lobster, and cooked them wrapped in fig leaves. The Romans made the finest grade of all their all-purpose sauce, liquamen, from shrimps. When Apicius heard that there were particularly large, luscious ones in Libya, he chartered a ship to sample them on the spot himself, but he was so much disappointed by the first ones brought to him aboard ship that he sailed home without ever setting food on shore."

---Food: An Authoritative and Visual History and Dictionary of the Foods of the World, Waverley Root [Smithmark:New York] 1980 (p. 460)

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