A couple of weeks ago we took Jon’s brother, who was in town visiting, to the airport up in Baltimore. I never miss an opportunity to visit a fancy grocery store, so we all went along for the ride. Had a nice dinner, hit up the sale racks at Antrho, and dragged Uncle Trevor through every aisle at Whole Foods before dropping him off at the airport. Then we stopped by the new Wegmans location in Crofton on the way home. I always love visiting their delicatessen, and I couldn’t resist having a few slices of the most gorgeous proscuitto I’ve ever seen sliced off to take home with me. And come home with me they did…along with some awesome peppered salami and sliced chorizo. I had to fend off Jon from eating all the “gabagool” in the fridge.
What he didn’t eat, I decided to use to do a fresh spin on one of my very favorite classic Italian dishes. Traditionally, this is made with a chicken breast. Which is awesome. But our local seafood joint happened to have some gorgeous, large shrimp in this weekend and the wheels in my head started turning.
It was a little bit more time consuming than chicken breasts, just because of wrapping shrimp individually in the prosciutto. But, your efforts are well rewarded. The salty richness of the proscuitto permeates the shrimp, rendering some of it’s fat and getting nice and crispy. Then a pan sauce is made from the browned bits, garlic, white wine, lemon juice, and butter. I served it over pasta, but I think it would be a wonderful appetizer or first course on it’s own. I’m so glad I remixed this one, because I think I like it better than the original!
Shrimp Saltimbocca
1 1/2 lbs large shrimp, peeled with tails left on
6 whole fresh sage leaves
6 thin slices of prosciutto, cut into 1×3 inch strips (4 strips per piece)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup dry vermouth or white wine
juice from 1/2 lemon
3 Tbsp. cold butter
1 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
salt and pepper
Wrap each shrimp with a piece of proscuitto and secure using a toothpick, or by placing 3 or 4 shrimp on a skewer at a time.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to shimmer. Add sage leaves and the smashed clove of garlic. Cook until sage leaves begin to change color and are fragrant, about30 seconds. Remove the sage with a slotted spoon.
Add the shrimp to the pan, and cook until golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook on other side until golden brown, about 3 more minutes. Remove the garlic clove and discard. Remove the shrimp and keep warm. Repeat with remaining shrimp.
If there is any excess fat in the skillet, pour it off. Add the chopped garlic, stir in the vermouth, scraping up the browned bits, and simmer until it’s reduced to about 3-4 Tbsp. Stir in lemon juice.
Turn heat down to low, and whisk in the butter. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over shrimp, and crumble (or serve whole) the fried sage leaves on top before serving.
Source: adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, May 2008 via Elly Says Opa
