Smoked Shrimp

My brother-in-law Austen always buys me cook books for Christmas, and I love it! (Keep it up, Austen!) I know I've mentioned Home Made before, but it's full of interesting recipes and methods, one of which is creating smoker out of kitchen staples. Jamie and I had friends over for football on Sunday, and in addition to the usual wings, I tried making smoked shrimp. They were so smoky! It really works. The recipe calls for rosemary salt to go with them, but I'd actually next time serve them with a sort of BBQ-cocktail sauce hybrid. I just bought frozen shrimp and thawed them while I brined them - it worked perfectly. I can't wait to try the homemade smoker with other things. Ribs? Fish?

Ingredients:
1 package frozen shrimp, uncooked

2 tbsp salt
small handfull hickory chips
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds

Directions:

Mix the salt in a big bowl with cold water and stir to dissolve. Brine/thaw the shrimp for 2 hours, peeling them if you have to but leaving on the tails. Preheat the oven to 400.

Add hickory chips and herbs to the bottom of a roasting pan or heavy bottomed pot. Cover with a layer of tin foil, then top with a heat proof rack of some sort (I used a silicone steamer, but something metal would probably be better).

Arrange the shrimp on top and turn on the heat.

Once it starts smoking (turn on your kitchen fan!) cover the pot/roasting pan tightly with tin foil.

I also topped off with the lid to really keep it tight. You don't want the smoke to escape.

Smoke the shrimp for five minutes, then transfer to the oven for 5 minutes to finish cooking. Ours were probably a touch too smoky, so I'd say take the lid/tinfoil off when you put it in the oven.

Dig in! Either serve with rosemary lemon salt (using a mortar and pestle to grind up fresh rosemary, salt, and lemon zest) or some BBQ sauce or cocktail sauce to dip.

Also, everyone watch Austen's new show, The Millers on CBS! He's one of the writers and it's hilarious.