Red Lobster Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp

Red Lobster Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp

This appetizer of shrimp, bacon, pepper jack cheese – rightly seasoned and baked or broiled in just minutes was an appetizer featured for just a short while. Now off the menu, but you can still enjoy this at home.

Seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 dash freshly Ground Pepper
• 1 dash Cayenne Pepper
• 1 dash Allspice
Dipping Sauce
• 1/3 cup Ranch Dressing
• 1/4 teaspoon dried Cilantro
Shrimp
• 5 pieces of thin sliced Bacon
• 5 large Shrimp
• 3 fresh Jalapeños, sliced in 1/2 length-wise
• 1 ounce Monterey Jack Pepper Cheese



Preheat oven to broil.
1. Make the seasoning blend by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well. Set aside.
2. Make the dipping sauce by combining the ranch dressing with cilantro in a medium bowl. Mix well. Set aside.
3. Cook the bacon in a frying pan over medium/high heat, but don’t cook it all the way to crispy or brown. About 3 minutes per side. When bacon is done drain on paper towels.
4. Shell the shrimp, leaving the last segment of the shell and the tail. Remove the dark vein from the back of the shrimp, and then cut down into the back of the shrimp, without cutting all the way through, so that the shrimp is nearly butterflied open. (This will make a pocket for the pepper and cheese).
5. Pour 1 cup of water into a small bowl.
6. Add the shrimp and jalapeño peppers and microwave for 60 to 90 seconds. Shrimp should be starting to firm up and change color.
7. Immediately pour the water out of the bowl, remove the jalapeño slices and pour cold water over the shrimp to stop the cooking. Place the shrimp and jalapeño pepper slices onto paper towels to drain off excess water.
8. Remove the seeds from the jalapeños. You’ll only need 5 of these. Eat the other one now if you like.
9. Place one jalapeño slice into the slit on the back of a shrimp.
10. Cut an inch-long chunk of cheese (about 1/4-inch thick), and place it on the jalapeño slice.
11. Wrap a piece of bacon around the shrimp, starting where the cheese is. Start wrapping the thinnest end of the bacon. Go 1 1/2 times around the shrimp and then cut off the excess bacon. Slide a skewer through the shrimp, starting with the end where the cheese is and piercing the cut end of the bacon on the other side.
12. Repeat with the remaining shrimp and slide them onto the skewer with the tails facing the same direction.
13. Put the skewered shrimp onto a baking sheet or broiler pan and sprinkle a very light coating of the seasoning blend over the shrimp. Broil for 3 to 4 minutes or until the bacon begins to brown and the cheese begins to ooze.
14. Serve with the dipping sauce and over a bed of rice, if desired.