Rosie Makes Oven Roasted Shrimp With A Kick.

I was really energetic yesterday. I worked in the garden, planting beets, radishes, sugar snap peas, spinach, columbine, and foxgloves. Then inside, I cleaned out Daughter Hawthorne's bathroom, an undertaking which involved my throwing half a container of clorox into the shower stall, closing the bathroom door so the fumes wouldn't knock me out, and having a glass of wine. Then I got really really energetic and decided to clean out the freezer since I had no idea what was in there and couldn't find anything. Every now and then, I throw everything out of my freezers, clean the insides, and carefully reorganize the mess, actually making an inventory of the contents. And when I add more or take out food, I mark it on the inventory. I'm quite good at keeping the inventory going. Mr. Hawthorne is not. He says he keeps inventory in his head. I ask him, "What's in the freezer upstairs?" "Uhhhh. Stuff." "What kind of stuff?" "Frozen stuff." "Name one." "Meat."

Check out my inventory. Now I know where everything is in that approximately 11 cubic feet of space. I found a bag of shrimp in the freezer so that's going to be supper. I wanted a nice cocktail sauce with the shrimp so the next picture shows Rosie grabbing her ingredients.

Ehhh. Too bad I didn't have time to clean the fridge out too. Actually, it's not that bad. Unfortunately, it's usually much worse. Now, let me give you a warning here. Do not attempt "the carry" at home. Leave this move to the professionals. Personally, I have spent hours studying and practicing "the carry" and finally feel comfortable enough to do it. For you novices out there, I just wouldn't recommend this advanced technique. It requires some serious cooking chops not to mention a very precise culinary point of view. It's best to leave this to the pros.

Now, on to dinner. I'm having oven roasted shrimp.

Mr. Hawthorne peeled and deveined the shrimp, whining about it the whole time like a little girl. "Why do I always get the shit detail?" "Why don't you come over and help me?" "Wha ... Wha ... Wha!!!" Whiner! I spread the shrimp out in a single layer in my favorite pan, pouring a little olive oil over top and turning the shrimp to coat. I actually used extra virgin, not my usual ELBOO.

Freshly ground salt and pepper (I like lots of pepper.) and the juice and zest of one lemon complete the preparation. The shrimp went into a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes. (These were fairly small shrimp. For larger, increase the time.) Just when you think they need another minute in the oven, take 'em out. Remember, they keep on cooking and most people have a tendency to overcook shrimp.

While the shrimp were cooking, I whipped up a quick cocktail sauce: 1 cup ketchup 2 TB soy sauce 3 TB Lea & Perrins 4 TB horseradish 2 TB wasabi juice of one lemon

Here's my pan of shrimp.

I had a paper towel of herbs sitting on the counter which I sprinkled over top of the shrimp. Just some basil leaves which I'd stripped off the bottom of a stem of basil that I'd brought inside to root.

The shrimp were tender and juicy and the basil gave it an extra burst of flavor that you weren't expecting but turned out to a pleasant surprise.

The cocktail sauce was sinus-opening, just the way I like it.

The basil gave it another flavor dimension, just a little kick, that both accented and complemented the shrimp. A very enjoyable meal.