Cast-​iron Garlic Shrimp with Chorizo and Green Olives

From Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others by Amy Thielen. Read our book review.

This rustic baked shrimp dish is almost prefab: so easy. Marinate the shrimp the night before, with garlic and smoked paprika and tangerine peels, and then an hour or two before dinner, when people are starting to look hungry, pour the shrimp into a cast-​iron skillet with some green olives, sliced chorizo, and a boatload of extra-​virgin olive oil, and pop it in the oven. Five minutes later, the pan of sizzling smoky shrimp and warm olives seems to just materialize, the way it does when you’re sitting at the counter of a dim, garlic-​scented Spanish tapas bar. Serve with plenty of bread for dipping, because this dish hinges on that pool of smoky olive oil.

Serves 10 as an appetizer

Ingredients

• • 1 Valencia orange or tangerine
  • 1 pound large shrimp (about 20), shells removed but tails left on 
  • 7 garlic cloves, minced
  • 6 bay leaves, preferably fresh
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¾ teaspoon sweet paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ²⁄₃ cup extra-​virgin olive oil
  • 2 ounces hard chorizo, thinly sliced (or substitute 10 dried red chiles)
  • 16 large green olives, such as Cerignola or Castelvetrano

Instructions

1. 1. Remove three wide strips of zest from the orange and set aside. Halve the orange and squeeze the juice into a small bowl; reserve.
   2. Combine the shrimp, garlic, orange zest, bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and both kinds of paprika in a mixing bowl and drizzle the orange juice over all. Toss to combine. Cover and marinate the shrimp in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, and as long as 24.
   3. When you’re ready to cook the shrimp, heat the oven to 350ºF.
   4. Bake the shrimp in two batches because they need to cook in a single layer, but feel free to cook them all at once in one enormous pan.
   5. Heat a heavy ovenproof sauté pan over medium-​low heat and add 1⁄3 cup of the olive oil. When it feels warm to the touch, add half of the shrimp, including half of the orange peels and bay leaves. Add half of the chorizo and olives and toss to coat. 
   6. Pop the skillet into the hot oven and bake for 5 minutes; then flip the shrimp. Continue to bake until the garlic sizzles and the shrimp have curled into loose C shapes, another 3 to 5 minutes, depending on their size. Keep a close watch on the oven to keep from overcooking them; when you think you can smell the garlic hitting the smoky olive oil, they’re pretty close.
   7. Set the pan on a trivet and serve with plenty of bread for dipping into the rusty, garlicky oil. When the shrimp have disappeared, add the remaining 1⁄3 cup olive oil and then the rest of the shrimp and aromatics to the same pan, building on the compounded flavor, and cook the second batch.

Excerpted from COMPANY: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others by Amy Thielen. Copyright © 2023 by Amy Thielen. Used with permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

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• • Shrimp and Grits
  • Southern Shrimp Burgers
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