Roasted Shrimp with Shallots and Garlic

Wondering how to make roasted shrimp? It’s easy! Learn how with this quick recipe for Roasted Shrimp with Shallots and Garlic.

The first time I spoke to my freshman college suitemate from Hawaii, we talked for hours. I remember laying across an armchair in my parent’s sunny living room and feeling like I’d just met my soulmate. We talked about our homes, the boys in our lives, our families and our dreams, connecting instantly.

When we moved in to our bright suite a few weeks later, our bond quickly grew. It wasn’t long before we were shopping together, sharing secrets and heading down the hall to another suite to watch the premiere (totally dating myself here) of Felicity. But beyond the laughs and fun, there was also much more to our relationship. She taught me some important life skills too — like how to properly do laundry and how to make perfect rice every time.

Hint: It starts with a good rice maker, which she tells me is kind of cheating, but I am okay with that.

This week, I passed that last bit along to my kids.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about work-life balance, life skills I can teach my kids and how to be a better mom. So this week, when I was writing out our menu, I made a critical change: I assigned the kids parts of each meal to make. While I still do the bulk of the cooking, I am getting my kids involved in essential parts of the meal to both take the load off of me and to teach them kitchen skills they’ll carry forever. It’s a win-win.

On Monday, that meant making the salad. Easy? Sure. But they also learned an important lesson while doing so. When they looked in the fridge, they grabbed a little of everything — from feta cheese and olives to cucumbers and blueberries to add to the salad. Sure, it was all tempting and each ingredient can be great on a salad. But they quickly learned that less is more — there was a lot going on with that salad. Will wished he’d left out the cheese. Paige wished they’d also left out the olives. While I was happy with the salad (salad, mmmm), I would have preferred it without blueberries. Next time, I think they will make different choices.

On Tuesday? They made the rice to go with this easy shrimp dish. I’m super excited that they learned how to make rice.

For this dish, shrimp is roasted in a quick and easy sauce that combines butter with olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and white wine, as well as shallots and garlic.

Together, the sauce gives the roasted shrimp a rich flavor that compliments it well. Seasoned with salt and pepper and served with a sprinkle of fresh parsley, it’s both pretty and delicious.

To make this a meal, serve it with a grain. We had ours with rice, but ancient grains like farro or quinoa would be delicious too. And you’ll also want a vegetable or two. We had our roasted shrimp with salad.

Do your kids help with dinner? What do they make?