Crispy oven baked shrimp

I've been away for a few days but luckily today the meeting finished a bit ahead of time so I managed to get an earlier flight, which gave me the opportunity to cook something for husband. He's been eating leftovers for the last couple of days so deserved something delicious. Although the leftovers where food I had cooked, so obviously also delicious.

I had a nice meal last night with colleagues. We were quite a large group, so dinner was preordered. The starter was a beautiful plate of salmon carpaccio, just lacking a bit of salt, but otherwise nice. I was so hungry I forgot to even take a picture. But I can tell you it looked beautiful.

For main course I had the vegetarian option because in Bavaria there is a risk with a meat main that you get the whole backside of a pig on a plate in front of you. Probably beautifully cooked and if you are into pork that is exactly what you should order. But I decided I could do without, so went for the ravioli which was really nice. I think it was spinach and ricotta, the waiter did say what it was, but my German is not particularly ausgezeichnet nowadays so could have been anything really.

If I was the one plating this dish I would
have straightened the rogue raviolo.

Dessert was a slightly weird sorbet of some fruit or another. Someone suspected clementine. By that time I was so freaked out by my Kiwi and Aussie colleagues weta and huntsman stories that I had somewhat lost my appetite. I am glad they and their crazy insects live on the other side of the world.

So tonight I wanted to do something really quick, because even if I did catch the earlier flight it was already late. Fridge was pretty empty, but I had nice big shrimp in freezer and they defrost quickly, so I did my crispy oven baked shrimp. I served it with a Greek inspired mixed salad.

Recipe: Crispy oven baked shrimp 

Large shrimp (I had about 20 for 2 people, but depends on size and hunger levels)
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup plain flour
2 eggs
salt
pepper or lemon pepper
2 tbsp of fresh chopped herbs
or
2 tsp of dried herbs
Lemon to serve with

Heat the oven to 220C

Peel, devein and dry the shrimp leaving the tails on if you like. I don't think they add much to the experience - I'm not much of a finger eater, so I often use ready pealed shrimp and don't particularly miss the tails.

Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix panko and the herbs in an other bowl. Break the eggs into a third bowl and mix with the herbs. For herbs use what you like / have. I used dried greek herb mix this time, but fresh dill, coriander or oregano work nicely too.

Drizzle a baking sheet lightly with oil.

Dredge the shrimp in flour, then egg and finally in the panko and place on the baking sheet. Turn over once so that it is lightly covered in oil, You can use a spray if you want to keep them healthy, but I find quite a modest amount of olive oil will do.

Bake for about 4-5 minutes on one side until they get some colour, then flip them all over and bake for another few minutes until that side is also nice and crispy with some colour, but not overcooked. You want to keep them juicy and succulent.