Maine Shrimp

When Abby and I stopped in at New Deal to get supplies for our sushi party, there was a big line of people at the counter asking for Maine Shrimp. When that many people are clamoring for the same thing, you almost have to give it a try. These little things are only in season a few weeks each year when the come towards the shore in droves to lay their eggs, and a lot of the shrimp were, indeed packed with roe. You can sort of see it if you enlarge the picture.
One of the interesting thing about Maine shrimp is that they start out their lives as males and then turn into females when they got older, which explains way most of the shrimp had roe, or so the internet tells me. They're also pretty darn tasty. Main shrimp have a really nice sweet, almost lobster like flavor that is really far superior to any other type of shrimp I've ever tasted.

We didn't get around to eating them until a day after we bought them, so I wasn't that interested in eating them raw, but we did lightly saute them (just a few seconds) with butter, a pinch of red pepper flakes, garlic, and kosher salt.
We tried them both with the shells on and off. I like them with the shells on since you can get the heads with the all of the good stuff inside of them, its also a lot easier to prep. Unlike the standard gulf shrimp I usually buy frozen at the store, these don't need to be deveined, making prep extra easy. If you live in the Northeast, I would highly recommend giving these a shot while they're in season.