Spicy Shrimp in Harissa Butter

Name: Spicy Shrimp in Harissa Butter
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 2 tbsp Olive Oil (2 tablespoons olive oil); 4 cloves Garlic (4 large cloves garlic, or 1 shallot, or ½ red onion, thinly sliced); 1 piece Lemon (1 lemon, half thinly sliced, half for squeezing over); 2 tbsp Harissa (2–4 tablespoons harissa paste* or gochujang, depending on the paste and your heat tolerance — up to 4); 1 ½ lb Shrimp (1 ½–2 pounds shell-on shrimp, or peeled shrimp — up to 2); 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter (2–4 tablespoons unsalted butter — up to 4); 0 pieces Kosher Salt (Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper); 1 piece Baguette (1 baguette, sliced, torn and/or toasted, to serve)

Spicy Shrimp in Harissa Butter (Middle Eastern)

Middle Eastern

Servings4

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Pescatarian
Halal
Egg Free

Steps

1Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until the slivers are nicely golden (but not too dark), 2–3 minutes. Add lemon slices and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until they’ve also started to turn a nice golden brown and frizzle at the edges, 3–4 minutes.
2Add harissa paste and cook a minute or two in the oil, frying the spices and caramelizing the paste to take the edge off. Add shrimp and a few tablespoons of butter (I think more is better here) and season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing until the shrimp are nicely coated, have turned a deep, bright pink, and are noticeably firmer, 4-6 minutes.
3Remove from heat, squeeze the other half of lemon over the shrimp, and toss to combine before transferring it to a platter. Serve it with baguette to sop up the sauce.
4*Harissa paste, a North African condiment made with chili and spices like cumin and coriander, can be radically different depending on the brand, the ingredients and where it comes from. Some are almost pure chili (lots of heat), some extremely mild, containing ingredients like sundried tomatoes or roasted red peppers for body and sweetness. My preference is to always have two types on hand for different applications, but if I had to choose one, it would be one with more heat than sweetness.