Hawaiian Butter Garlic Shrimp

One of my favorite things about Hawaii was definitely the garlic butter shrimp served at the shrimp trucks all over the island, particularly at the North Shore.  Macky's Shrimp Truck was absolutely my favorite!  Now that we've moved back to the mainland though, if I want some delicious, garlicky shrimp in my life, I have to make it myself.

After doing some Googling and some recipe testing, I came across this recipe from JonesBrand.com for Hawaii Garlic Shrimp.  I was intrigued at the ingredient list and decided to give it a go!

Now, it wasn't an exact replica of some of my favorite joints, but it was delicious enough to pass and that's good enough for me!  The sauce was excellent and added great flavor to the shrimp.  From now on when I get a craving for some delicious garlic butter shrimp, this will be the recipe I turn to!

Recipe courtesy of JonesBrand.com

Ingredients [4 servings]

• 1 lb white shrimp, deveined (I went for heads off, but if you can, get bigger shrimp than pictured here, like jumbo size)
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (+3 tsp)
• 4 tbsp butter, salted
• 3 heads fresh garlic (yep, it's a lot!)
• 2 lemons
• 1/2 tsp coarse Hawaiian sea salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup white wine (avoid very dry wines for this recipe, and if you need a substitute, try chicken stock)

Directions

Take two heads of garlic, drizzle with olive oil, and roast in the oven at 400 degrees until soft.

Squeeze out the garlic when cool and mash and mix with 1 tbsp of olive oil, then set aside.

Mince approximately 8-10 cloves from the last head of garlic.  Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and then add 4 tbsp of olive oil, 2 tbsp butter, and the minced raw garlic.

Saute the garlic low and slow until it's nice and caramelized.

Add the wine, roasted garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, the rest of the butter, and the juice of one lemon to the pan.  Continue cooking on medium low until the sauce fully develops.

Empty the frozen shrimp into a colander and rinse off the excess ice.

Add the shrimp to the pan in one layer, turn the heat up to medium, and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until the shells start to turn pink.

Once they start to turn, flip all the shrimp over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Then turn the heat off and let the heat in the sauce finish cooking the shrimp.  This helps avoid overcooking the shrimp and making them tough and rubbery.

Serve the shrimp immediately with a couple of scoops of rice.

Be sure to add some of the garlic butter sauce on top of the rice and then dig in!

Have you tried Hawaiian-style garlic shrimp before?