Cream Cheese Shrimp Ball

Love shrimp?

Serve  this cream cheese shrimp ball, a little on the Cajun side, with assorted crackers at your holiday party. If you prefer, roll the mixture with walnuts or pecans instead of toasted sesame seeds.

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup minced garlic
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/4 pounds uncooked shrimp, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds

Directions

In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add to the melted butter the garlic, onion, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until the onion has softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook until shrimp is no loner transparent, about 5 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and drain excess; set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, liquid smoke, and lemon juice. Stir in the cooked shrimp and mix until evenly distributed.. Roll into a ball. Cover the ball and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.  Mix parsley with the toasted sesame seeds in a bowl. Roll the ball in the parsley/sesame seed mixture. Cover and refrigerate the cream cheese shrimp ball until completely firm, at least one hour.