Giovanni's Garlic Shrimp (Oahu's North Shore Shrimp Truck Garlic Shrimp)

When visiting Oahu, you might want to spend a day away from Waikiki. The first time I visited, I spent the entire duration of the trip in the Waikiki area (mainly Waikiki beach and Kalakaua Avenue).

On a recent trip to Oahu, one of my dear friends from high school gave me a grand tour of the entire island. He moved to Honolulu to attend U of H and he is now officially an island boy. He wanted to take us to the Haiku Stairway but I was too chicken to sneak in and too chicken to climb the almost vertical stairway.

He took us to Turtle Bay and the North Shore one day. The North Shore of Oahu is famous for its roach coach shrimp trucks. The most famous is Giovanni’s but there are actually several different vendors. We stopped at Fumi’s. They had their own shrimp bog right next to the truck.

I wanted to recreate the dish so I searched for a recipe. I found this: http://www.tasteandshare.com/video/garlic-shrimp-recipe

I had to make a few minor adjustments to get it just right. First, I decided to use 20-30 shrimp instead of the U-15. I think the 20-30 extra large shrimp were about the same size that were used at Giovanni’s. I doubled the amount of shrimp to 20 but didn’t double the garlic. One head was plenty. I also decreased the amount of flour. One cup was way too much waste.

Ingredients:
20 shell-on extra large shrimp, deveined (The recipe specified 10 U-15 shrimp but I used extra large 26-30 shrimp. I think U-15 is actually considered jumbo.)
1 head (10 cloves) garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
½ cup flour
2 tablespoons paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ stick unsalted butter (I didn’t bother to clarify the butter)
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 cup white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

To begin, rinse and thaw your large shrimp in cool running water. Lightly pat dry and season with salt. In a wide dish, place the flour, paprika and cayenne pepper. Mix lightly with your hands and coat each piece of shrimp on both sides.
Heat saute pan over high heat.

Add butter and garlic. Stir for 1 minute, then add all of the shrimp, which has been coated in the flour mixture. Saute 3 minutes on each side.

After 3 minutes on the second side, add the 1/8 cup of white wine and 2 tablespoons butter. Saute, turning shrimp occasionally, until it reaches a caramel brown color.

Remove shrimp immediately and serve with two mounds of sticky steamed calrose rice and a lemon wedge, spooning extra garlic butter sauce over the rice and shrimp. Add extra salt and cayenne pepper to taste if desired.

Chef's Note: You leave the shell on only during the cooking process. This keeps the shrimp tender and moist. Afterward, you peel and eat them, topped with the buttery garlic sauce and

Fumi’s served their shrimp with a side “salad.” Many of my plated lunches were served with an iceberg side “salad” and a scoop of ono mac salad.