2 sticks of unsalted butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

3-4 cloves garlic, minced (2 Tbs.)

3 Tbs. Creole Seasoning (see below)

2 cups Shrimp Stock or 2 cups bottled clam juice

¼ cup honey

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbs., tomato paste

1 t. Old Bay seasoning

1 lb. (16-20 count) shrimp, deveined, shells on

2 Tbs. green onions, bias-sliced

CREOLE SEASONING
:COMBINE:

1 Tbs. paprika

2 t. dried rosemary

2 t. salt

1 t. each black, white and cayenne pepper

½ t. each dried thyme and oregano

½ t. dry mustard

¼ t. celery seed

3 bay leaves, very finely crumbled

 

FOR THE ROUX:

Preheat oven to 350º. Melt ½ cup butter (1 stick) in an ovenproof salute pan over medium heat. Add flour, and whisk to combine.

Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven. Cook roux for 30 minutes, whisking it every 10 minutes. When it's the color of peanut butter, remove it from the oven and set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 425º.

FOR THE SAUCE:

While roux cooks, mix together the Creole Seasoning, then melt remaining butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add Creole Seasoning and garlic; stir to combine.

Stir in the shrimp stock, honey, Worcestershire, tomato paste, and Old Bay. Return sauce to a boil over medium-high heat, then whisk in prepared roux, 1 Tbs. at a time. You'll probably only need about 3 Tbs. of roux. The sauce should be the consistency of maple syrup.

Place shrimp in a single layer in shallow baking dish. Ladle sauce over shrimp and bake 6-8 min., or until just firm. Garnish with green onions and serve.

Makes 4-5 Appetizer Servings or 2-3 as main dish.

Comments:
This BBQ Shrimp is not what you may think. First of all, it's a New Orleans dish. Second, there's no grilling involved. And finally, the sauce isn't a typical BBQ sauce like you'd put on ribs. The only thing this has in common with familiar barbecue dishes is that you're going to get messy - BBQ Shrimp should be eaten hot, with your fingers and plenty of long-neck beers.

There are two advantages to cooking shrimp in their shells. First, you get tastier shrimp - the shells hold in the natural flavor to the shrimp, and they impart a flavor of their own. Second you have a larger margin for error when you cook them. You can devein a shrimp in its shell using manicure scissors. Place the tip of the scissors under the shell at the head end of the shrimp. Then cut the shell down to the last tail segment.