Cheese Baked Stuffed Shrimps 芝士烤虾

The other day, my sister-in-law bought some very large shrimps home. The shrimps were as big as my palm (see pix). Initially it was meant to be grilled. However, I felt that just grilling these large shrimps is a bit of a waste. I suggested we do something more special to it. Then it dawned on me that I have no such recipe. At the end, I decided to do cheese baked stuffed shrimps. I have always wanted to make stuffed lobster or lobster mornay and having these large shrimps seems to make it perfect. Since lobster is almost beyond reach in this part of the world, large shrimps would just be as good.

I chose a simple baked stuffed shrimps recipe. The shrimps were butterflied and then topped with sauteed garlic and bacon before finishing it with cheese as topping. All these went into the oven until the shrimps were cooked and and cheese melted. It was a really appetising dish with cheese oozing out and all. The shrimps came out flavourful but lacking some sort of sauce to bind the taste. On the hindsight, I should have done shrimp mornay. I should have added some sort of sauce. If you are in the mood to try out this recipe, I suggest you add some milk and flour to make a roux when you are sauteeing your stuffings.

For the cheese, I used half mozzarella and half cheddar (since I cannot get my hands on Gruyere). Mozzarella would give it that gooey texture and cheddar for the sharpness. You could experiment with the cheese of your choice. I strongly suggest gruyere, my personal favourite.

Cheese Baked Stuffed Shrimps 芝士烤虾

Makes 6 baked stuffed shrimps

Ingredients

6 XL large shrimps
1/2 green pepper, diced finely
3 streaks of bacon, chopped
1 cup of mozzarella and gruyere/cheddar cheese, mixed together
1/2 cup Ritz biscuit, crushed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped finely
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp parsley flakes
lemon wedges

Seasoning

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
a dash of pepper
2 tsp whiskey

Cooking Instruction

1. Prepare shrimp. Trim the pointed front and the legs of the shrimps. Then butterfly shrimps by cutting lengthwise along the curve. Remove the veins, wash and pat dry with kitchen towel. Add seasoning to marinade the shrimp.

2. Prepare stuffing. In a skillet, melt butter and add garlic and onion. Sautee until fragrant. Add in bacon, green pepper, salt, sugar and parsley flakes and continue to sautee until fragrant. Remove from fire.

3. Bake shrimp. Preheat oven to 200C. Spoon stuffings on top of shrimps. Drizzle remaining butter on top of shrimps. Top generously with cheese mixture. Add a little crushed biscuit for crunch. Put shrimps into oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, until cheese is melted and browned.

4. Serve. Remove and serve hot your cheese baked stuffed shrimps with lemon wedges.