Marinated Shrimp with Champagne Beurre Blanc

Special occasions call for special presentations and attention to detail. Sometimes these special occasions are Saturday night dinners at home! 

Don't be intimated by the French sauce. Beurre Blanc is simply a butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar, wine, and shallots to which cold pieces of butter are added one at a time and whisked in completely before the next piece is added. The butter needs to be added over very low heat or even off the heat source so the sauce doesn't separate. 

I used this type of Champagne Balsamic Vinegar which was made with dark balsamic. Therefore, my sauce was darker than one which is made with a white balsamic, but the taste! Velvety smooth and so flavorful. This dish is not a recipe you can whip up at the spur of the moment. You'll need to plan a little time to marinate the shrimp, prepared the reduction as the base of the sauce, and then slowly whisk in the butter. But, rest assured, your diners will be WOWED! 

You can either serve medium-sized shrimp as an elegant seafood appetizer or use the largest shrimp you can find (and afford!) and serve as a main course dish. 

For the Sauce Base:

2 cups Champagne or other dry sparkling wine

1/3 cup finely chopped shallots

2 T. Champagne vinegar

1/4 t. whole black peppercorns

Combine Champagne, shallots, vinegar, and peppercorns in a heavy medium saucepan. Boil until reduced to 1/4 cup liquid, about 20 minutes. You can make this up to 4 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.

For the Shrimp:

1 cup Champagne or other dry sparkling wine

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 T. minced shallots

1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper

24 extra large uncooked shrimp (about two pounds), peeled, deveined, with tail left intact

1 T. minced fresh chives

1 T. minced fresh tarragon

1T. minced fresh parsley

nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

Combine Champagne, olive oil, and ground pepper in a resealable plastic bag. Add shrimp to bag and seal; shake bag to co shrimp evenly. Marinate shrimp at room temperature at least 30 minutes and u tp 1 hour, turning bag occasionally. Mix chives, tarragon, and parsley in small bowl.

Preheat broiler. Spray broiler pan with nonstick vegetable oil spray. drain shrimp; discard plastic bag with marinade. Arrange shrimp on prepared pain single layer. Broil shrimp until just opaque in center, about two minutes per side. Stand 3 or 4 shrimp tails upright, in center of each plate.

Rewarm sauce based over medium-low heat. Whisk in butter, one piece at a time, just allowing each to melt before adding next (do not boil or sauce WILL separate).  

Season Beurre Blanc to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon warms sauce around shrimp. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve.

Adapted from Epicurous.com