Salt-and-Pepper Shrimp
Serves 4
The loud sizzle you should hear when you add the shrimp to the
pan echoes the loud sizzle you’ll feel in your mouth when you eat
the finished product: a rollicking Asian-inspired dish of crispy
shrimp infused with ginger, fresh herbs, and soy sauce. When
Davis makes this at Blueacre Seafood, he uses a fresh, just-boiled
Dungeness crab (and if you have crab on hand, by all means, use it
here), but I like it best with shrimp. You must serve it with rice to
soak up all the delicious sauce.
1 pound large shell-on shrimp, rinsed, deveined, and patted
dry
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Wondra flour*
¼ cup clarified butter (see Kitchen Know-How)
1 small onion, chopped
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
5 or 6 whole Thai basil leaves
¼ cup slightly chopped cilantro
¼ to ½ cup soy sauce
Cooked white rice, to serve