Shrimp Butter
Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

A shrimp-flavored spread that is delicious spread on a cracker. This can also be used as a finisher atop a grilled steak or to enrich seafood pasta dishes.

Another recipe suggested serving with a relish tray of sliced pimento stuffed olives, sliced green onions and roasted red pepper slivers so diners can top off their shrimp butter with them for an extra tidbit of flavor.

FMM: If using as a cracker spread, try making with 1 or 1 1/2 sticks buttter and 8 ounces of cream cheese instead of 6. It is very buttery, which is fine if you are finishing a steak. I thought it needed more flavor and added more cayenne pepper, parsley and lemon juice. Many reviewers thought it a bit bland. A suggestion by a reviewer was to cook the shrimp as you would Shrimp Scampi. I also saw a recipe that was written this way.

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature [try 1 1/2 sticks]
1 tablespoon sherry
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice (my addition)
1 teaspoon House Seasoning (4 parts salt to 1 part black pepper and 1 part garlic powder)
Pinch salt
Cayenne pepper
2 (3-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened [try 8 ounces]
2 tablespoons chopped onion [green onion would be good]
Parsley (my addition)
1 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined, and cooked
Paprika, for garnish

Put all the ingredients except the shrimp and paprika into a food processor. Process until well mixed. Drop in shrimp and process until either pureed or chopped to desired consistency. (This recipe can be pureed to the consistency of butter or left with chunky pieces of shrimp). Garnish with paprika. Serve on crackers as an appetizer. [I think French or Italian bread slices would also be good.]

FMM: I mixed all but the shrimp with a hand mixer. We chopped up the shrimp in the food processor so there were still little chunks left, then added to the other ingredients using the hand mixer. The more you mix it the more the shrimp breaks up.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups