In 1965, single mom of two boys and New Orleanian, Ruth Fertel mortgaged her home to purchase the (then) popular Chris Steak House. After a fire broke out and destroyed the original location, she rebuilt, added her name to original and Ruth’s Chris Steak House was born. Ruth’s Chris is the largest upscale steakhouse chain in the world, with over 170 locations worldwide.
I had the distinct pleasure of working at Ruth’s Chris Steak House corporation, for 10 years, when Ruth Fertel was still largely involved with the company. This gave me the opportunity to work for her and she became one of my largest inspirations in the hospitality industry. I also socialized and dined with her, several times, and she was one of the most charming and funniest people I have met. Man, did she have the stories and she told them with as much passion as she ran her restaurants. All while smoking her cigarettes and drinking her whiskey.
As a Sales and Marketing Director for Ruth’s Chris, I executed many off-premise catering events for charity, food and wine festivals and large functions. We would feature some of our signature menu items at these events, but we ALWAYS served the Barbequed Shrimp appetizer. I swear, I have made this appetizer about 50 times! I think I can probably make the Barbequed Shrimp better than Ruth, herself! OK, maybe not. But, let’s just say, I’ve made it a bunch.
Serve the Barbequed Shrimp with Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s Chop Salad and Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s Stuffed Chicken Breast and Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 LB. of 16/20 shrimp, peeled (leave tails on) and deveined
- 1/2 cup + 2 TBL dry white wine
- 1 (8oz.) stick of butter, room temperature
- 2 TBL green onion, chopped finely, green part only
- 2 TBL canola oil
- 2 tsp. garlic, minced
- 4 TBL Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. Tabasco hot sauce
- ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp. paprika (not smoked)
- ½ tsp. ground rosemary
- 3 TBL heavy cream
- 2 pinches Kosher salt
- Crusty bread for serving
- Extra slivered green onion for garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small mixing bowl, combine room temperature butter, garlic, Worcestershire, Tabasco, cayenne, paprika, and rosemary and mix well. Brush some of the garlic butter on the crusty bread. Refrigerate the remaining butter to get slightly hardened before use.
In a large saucepan, on a medium-high heat, add the canola oil. When the oil becomes hot, add the peeled and deveined shrimp. Cook for approximately 2 minutes until the shrimp is just cooked and a becomes a bright pink color. Add 2 TBL of white wine and allow to cook 1 minute more. Remove the shrimp from the heat, place into a bowl and set aside.
In the same saucepan, add the 1/2 cup of dry white wine. Scrape the fond from the bottom of the pan and bring the wine to a simmer. Reduce wine by half.
Put the garlic bread into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 3-4 minutes or until slightly browned and crispy. Remove and set aside.
Once the wine has reduced by half, add the green onion, and allow to cook slightly. Add the compound butter to the saucepan, 1 TBL at a time, and whisk. Continue to add the butter and whisk until all butter is incorporated into the BBQ butter sauce. Whisk in the heavy cream and 2 pinches of Kosher salt.
Replace the cooked shrimp into the saucepan with the butter and toss the shrimp in the BBQ butter until well coated. Plate the shrimp onto a large platter and pour all BBQ butter from the saucepan over the top. Sprinkle slivered green onion, for garnish, and serve with the crusty garlic bread.
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