I've got a thing for finger food. Or tapas. Small bites. Whatever you want to call them, I could easily have each and every party I throw be made up of teeny bites of this and that. And the bite I'm into right now are these Spicy Citrus Pickled Shrimp.
11/2 poundsuncooked, deveined, and peeled shrimp, tails left on
For The Pickle:
1lemonthinly sliced
2red onions
1cuporange juice
1cupwhite wine vinegar
1/2cupfreshly squeezed lemon juice
2tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil
2teaspoonscrushed red pepper flakes(use less if you don't like things spicy)
1teaspoonunrefined cane sugar
1bay leaf
1teaspooncelery seed
For Serving:
1/3cuproughly chopped fresh flat-leaf Italian parsleyfor garnish
Tortilla chipsor crackers, for serving
Instructions
For the cooking liquid: Place 8 cups water in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Quarter one of the onions then add it to the water along with 4 of the bay leaves, the cinnamon stick, the garlic cloves, the kosher salt, the peppercorns, and 1 teaspoon of the celery seeds. When it boils, remove from heat, add shrimp, and cook until they’re bright-pink and firm, about 2 minutes. Drain and rinse to prevent further cooking.
For the pickle: Place shrimp in a large nonreactive bowl. Thinly slice one lemon and quarter, and then thinly slice the remaining two onions. Add the lemon and onions to the container along with the orange juice, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, the remaining bay leaf, red pepper flakes, sugar, and remaining 1 teaspoon of celery seeds. Add the shrimp and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours to overnight.
To serve: Just before serving, fold in the parsley. Serve with toothpicks or on crackers or chips.