I Made It Monday: Coconut Shrimp

I Made It Monday's are making a comeback - at least for the moment.

This last week I kept seeing commercials for Red Lobster's all you can eat shrimp and the Coconut shrimp looked absolutely amazing!!! I am not a huge fan, however, of Red Lobster restaurant and have never been impressed with their food and definitely not their prices. Last time Dan and I went I had crab legs that were too soft to crack, the waitress told me to try harder. When I finally convinced her to try it herself and be unsuccessful she brought be another plate of crackable - but not delectable crab. (Dan and his Dad really spoiled me last summer with fresh crab they dove for). Turns out the crab was from Alaska. HELLO! I LIVE on the gulf coast! The restaurant is literally feet from fresh salt water!

ANYWAY, these days when I see something or think of something I really want it is all I can think about until I get it. So all week I had coconut shrimp on the brain. After looking up several recipes that seemed rather complicated or involved ingredients I did not want to purchase for the sake of one meal (like non-alcoholic beer) I thought I would have to fork over the money to satisfy my craving at Red Lobster and most likely be disappointed. Finally I came across this seemingly simple recipe from cooks.com. I say seemingly because I bought shrimp from a fresh seafood market near our home with good sized fresh shrimp caught that day, but unfortunately, they were not de-shelled, de-veined, or de-pooped! It took me about 40 minutes to do a pound of shrimp (It would probably be faster if it wasn't my first time) - I started to wonder if it was worth it - but after tasting the result I would say so...at least for special occasions! The end product was pure deliciousness!

My only problem with this recipe is that I think I got the butter too hot because the coconut that fell off during the cooking would burn making the next batch look burned even though it wasn't. I need to figure that out.Fresh Coconut Shrimp

1 C. Flour (or as much as needed to coat all the shrimp)
2 eggs
Grated coconut (I don't know how much I used - just made sure all the shrimp got a good dipping in it on both sides)
1 1/2 lbs Jumbo Shrimp, peeled and devined (I just had a pound of medium sized shrimp)
Salt and Pepper to taste (I forgot this part)
4-5 Tbs of butter or olive oil
Lime Wedges, optional

- Place blour in a bowl, eggs in another, and coconut in a third. And use this order to dip the shrimp.
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper to taste
- Dip each shrimp in flour, shake off excess, then in egg, then in coconut.
- Heat butter in frying pan over medium flame/heat.
- Pan fry shrimp until firm and golden brown about 1 minute per side.
HINT: When the shrimp tail curls up to a C-shape they are "C-ooked". If the tail curls all the way around to an O-shape they are "O-vercooked"
- Drain on paper towels and then serve with lime wedges and/or dipping sauce

Dipping sauce:
-Apricot jam, horseradish, salt and lime juice

We used orange marmalade with some lemon juice and a few drops of franks red hot sauce - because that is what I had and it wasn't bad. The goal is to get a little sweet/spicy mix to dip in. Also, cocktail sauce was fine too.