Stuffed Cocktail Party Shrimp

32 jumbo shrimp (about 2-1/2 pounds), peeled & deveined *
2 sticks (8 ounces) salted butter, melted *
One 1-pound loaf white sandwich bread
2 tsp hot sauce (eyeball it)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tblsp chopped fresh thyme (about 6 sprigs) *
Salt & freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425°. Split the shrimp by cutting them lengthwise down the back, stopping just short of cutting them in half. Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels & using a pastry brush, brush them with one-quarter of the melted butter.

In a food processor, pulse the bread into crumbs & transfer to a small bowl. Mix the remaining melted butter with the hot sauce, garlic & thyme. Pour the butter sauce over the bread crumbs, stir to combine & season to taste with salt & pepper.

Place the shrimp, cut side down, on a large, sturdy baking sheet & top with a generous tablespoonful of the bread-crumb stuffing. (The tails will curl up over the stuffing during baking.) Bake in the center of the oven until the shrimp are cooked through & pink in color & the

stuffing is lightly toasted, 15 to 20 minutes.

{Food for Thought}

There was no way I was using 2 sticks of butter so I didn't brush the shrimp with butter at all. I only used a total of 1/2 stick of butter to mix in with the breadcrumbs. Then I used a little olive oil to make the breadcrumb mixture come together better. I also brushed my baking pan with olive oil as well. I used dried thyme instead of fresh which was just fine. And I substituted a little whole wheat bread into the mixture. Any stuffing, such as crabmeat, would be great for this recipe.

As for the shrimp, my supposed jumbo were more like medium sized shrimp so I only used about a tsp or 2 of the stuffing & lightly patted it down on the top of the shrimp, then baked for only 10 minutes, then turned the broiler on for about 1 minute in order to get the breading toasty. This was perfect.