lemony brown butter shrimp rolls

the 20-minute meal you didn't know you needed

I devoured the book Happy Place by Emily Henry a couple weeks ago. It takes place on an island in Maine during their annual summer lobsterfest, so I’ve naturally had lobster rolls on the brain ever since.

I love lobster rolls. There are two main categories of lobster rolls: Maine and Connecticut style. Maine rolls are a cold, mayo-based lobster salad on a warm, buttery roll. They’re delicious, but they’re not my favorite. My favorite are Connecticut-style — where lobster is poached in a simple butter sauce, then loaded into a warm roll and garnished with chives. They’re the perfect bite of summer.

Lobster, however, is not exactly what I feel like cooking when I don’t feel like cooking. But shrimp is! Shrimp is a fantastic lean protein, and I always have a bag in the freezer. I buy it peeled, deveined, and tail-off, so it’s incredibly easy to use. I developed a weird technique for making shrimp resemble the texture of lobster that I’m excited for y’all to try out. Basically, you’re going to throw the shrimp into a pile on your cutting board, then chop through them over and over. Sometimes cut all the way through, but sometimes just use the knife to scuff the shrimp up a bit. It’ll give you a similar vibe to the flakiness of lobster claw meat.

And we’re taking our lobster rolls over the top by browning our butter, which gives it a rich, almost hazelnut-y, caramel-y flavor. Then we’re adding lemon zest and garlic to the butter, and poaching the shrimp right in that pool of buttery goodness. Stir in some fresh dill and chives, load it into a warm, buttery roll, and prepare for everyone to beg for seconds.

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lemony brown butter shrimp rolls

Serves 4 (or 2, if you both want 2 rolls!)

Cook time: 20 minutes

Tools:

• Your widest skillet (ideally a light-colored skillet, such as stainless steel, so that you can easily keep an eye on the color of the butter as it browns)

• Pastry or basting brush

• Baking sheet

• Cutting board

• Chef’s knife

• Microplane

• Tongs