Creamy garlicky fennel shrimp with a hint of lemon and that enticing savory anise scent from fennel fronds (the lovely green frilly tops of the fennel bulb). Ready in just 20 minutes, this easy dish will wow your tastebuds. Seriously, you take frozen uncooked shrimp straight from the freezer and dinner is ready in no time.
The secret is in the easy fennel sauce that smothers the shrimp with a savory anise garlicky goodness. It makes use of my Greek-yogurt-based creamy cucumber fennel salad dressing. I made this dressing when I suddenly was gifted a single mini-bulb of fennel that was LOADED with a bunch of fennel fronds from my sister. Her fennel bulbs didn’t grow very big this year, but the green frilly tops were so plentiful! And the scent of them was positively intoxicating. They made a dressing that was seriously to LIVE for! (I’m trying to give up the saying “to DIE for” during COVID times … perhaps forever? We shall see.)
Anyway, I had plenty of fennel fronds to make the dressing more than once … and although I did take pictures, I somehow never got around to writing down the shrimp recipe the first time I made it until long after I had long forgotten the exact steps and measurements. I was devastated when I discovered my error and remembering and LOVING the result, I just had to do a repeat on this flavorful shrimp so I could share it with you, sweet foodie friends (AND let’s get real, I wanted to taste it one more time).
The last of my fennel fronds went into a creamy cucumber-less dressing (because fresh cucumbers are no longer on hand at my house and I have so much garden produce left that I cannot, in good conscience, buy any more produce at the moment). I was so content how quickly those little fronds became a nice dish of shrimp for me to munch on. (I mean, after pictures, of course … although these delectable shrimp were tempting me to grab them and eat them … the … whole … time!)
Sometimes it’s SO hard to force myself to wait! … Even if you have to make the dressing, you’ll only have to wait about 30 minutes for dinner. Make sure you have your sides or salad ready when your shrimp are done! It happens so quickly.
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Garlic Fennel Shrimp
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 20 min
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon grass-fed butter
- 2 – 4 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped fine
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 1 – 2 Tablespoons)
- A splash of white wine or sherry (optional)
- 8 oz. large frozen, uncooked shrimp
- 2 Tablespoons creamy cucumber fennel dressing (recipe here)
- Salt & pepper, if needed, to taste
- Fresh fennel fronds (the frilly green tops) — or dill, snipped (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter, then add the chopped garlic and cook just briefly until the garlic is fragrant. Add the lemon juice, wine and shrimp and cook for 3 – 5 minutes, until the shrimp start to curl and turn pink on the bottom.
- Using a pair of tongs, flip each shrimp over as soon as it’s pink on the bottom and let cook a couple minutes longer, just until pink on the other side. Remove the shrimps one by one from the pan as soon as they are done, leaving the buttery garlicky juices in the pan.
- Cook and stir the juices until they have reduced and thickened to a nice sauce-like consistency. Add in the cucumber fennel dressing and stir to mix, making a thick creamy garlic fennel sauce.
- Pour the shrimp back into the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt or pepper as needed. (Mine didn’t need any.) Serve hot over angel hair pasta, spaghetti squash, salad greens, mashed potatoes or brown rice. Drizzle any extra sauce on top and enjoy!
Notes
© Copyright 2020, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Keywords: Shrimp, Fennel, Creamy, Garlic, Butter, Lemon, Gluten free, Heart healthy
The first time I made this shrimp, I used it in a salad and I drizzled all the extra sauce and (of course) more of that thick, creamy and totally addicting cucumber fennel dressing on top. Super amazing … my salad consisted of fresh garden or gifted things I had on hand: kale, red cabbage (from sister’s garden as well!), sweet onion, tomato, sweet corn, pepitas, crumbled feta and pepitas. I sprinkled a bit of everything bagel seasoning on top, just for fun.
Look at that juicy goodness! It’s hard to describe just how good that creamy lemony fennel sauce tastes on the shrimp. Just trust me on this one and go for it. All you have to do is find yourself some fennel fronds. Do they sell fennel bulbs complete with the green leafy tops anywhere? I honestly have never noticed and am seriously hoping that they do, for those of you that don’t garden. For myself, I think I might try to grow some fennel next year in my garden. I’m totally putting fennel seeds on my Christmas wish list.
2 comments
I will take a fork, I love a good shrimp recipe, and this looks delicious and ultra healthy.
[…] green tops on fennel are great for sooo many things like pesto and salad dressing … and shrimp. I’m so enamored with fennel fronds and definitely wanting some fennel in my garden next year […]