Crunchy Baked Shrimp with Orange-Apricot Sauce

Finally, a coated shrimp dish that is actually crispy yet baked and with no oil. How you say? I worked hard and achieved it. Both my husband and my friend both enjoyed the dish. And by enjoy, I mean, we all ate the shrimp within 10 minutes of taking the former swimmers out of the oven. Of course my husband thinks the breading needed more salt if you are not dipping, but his taste buds seem to need a seriously heavy dose of salt on everything he eats. Plus, why bother eating one without the sauce?

Ingredients for Shrimp:
1 lb. of 31-40 uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg white, beaten with a touch of water
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1. Place a cooling rack into a baking pan.
2. Place flour into a ziptop bag.
3. Whisk egg white, water and salt and pepper together.
4. Combine the panko, cilantro, paprika, ginger, and remaining salt and black pepper in a bowl, combine.
5. Bread shrimp: Combine shrimp and flour; toss well to coat. Working with 3 or 4 shrimp at a time, shake off excess flour, coat with egg, dredge in panko mixture, and transfer to cooling rack. Cover and refrigerate.*
6. Cook shrimp. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake until golden and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes.

*You could probably bake this immediately, I had to stop and so I placed it in the refrigerator for 2 hours before I baked them.

Ingredients for sauce:
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, finely chopped
cornstarch**

Bring the first 8 ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until reduced to about a 1/3 cup. Remove from heat; cool completely. Stir in cilantro and set aside.
**If you want it thicker, simply remove a tablespoon of the sauce and whisk in a teaspoon of cornstarch until dissolved. Add it back into the saucepan and heat it up again for 2 minutes and you should have the consistency you want.
Couscous recipe coming tomorrow.