Spicy Portuguese shrimp

Spicy Portuguese shrimp, originally uploaded by beFOODled.

This is Maria's famous Portuguese shrimp that she serves at parties, a very rich and buttery appetizer. Every time I am at her house, I help her make it. She uses a special Portuguese hot pepper sauce, but you could use any hot sauce. Cook the shrimp in two batches, otherwise they will release too much water and dilute the sauce.

Unpeeled shrimp are the best. The shell traps the sauce and you can suck it off, then unpeel the shrimp and eat it. Messy, but so so good. But you can also use peeled shrimp. You can also turn this appetizer into a pasta sauce for linguine by adding white wine and cream.

Maria's Portuguese Shrimp
1/2 C butter
1/4 C olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp hot pepper sauce
454 g bag of shrimp, unpeeled
1 tsp paprika
sea salt to taste

Melt the butter and oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic and hot sauce and fry for a minute or two. Add half the shrimp and half of the paprika and salt. Fry, stirring often, until the shrimp are pink, five minutes or so. Set the cooked shrimp aside on a serving plate, but leave the sauce behind in the pan. Add the rest of the shrimp, paprika and salt, and cook the second batch. Add the remaining shrimp and sauce to the serving plate and eat with crusty bread.