ArcaMax

We may still be a couple of weeks away from springtime, but I always feel as if the new season starts on the weekend we set the clocks forward, which happens next Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Even though I wake up missing that extra hour's sleep, I instantly feel like brighter days are just ahead. And I start daydreaming about warm-weather vacations.

I can't stop thinking of some of my favorite European destinations: the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy. My mouth starts to water as I imagine fresh seafood seasoned with wonderfully aromatic herbs, garlic and olive oil.

And I know how quick and easy it can be to capture that feeling in my own kitchen. All I have to do is bake some shrimp.

The thought of baking shrimp might surprise you. After all, they cook so quickly that you might consider baking too much work -- with too great a risk of overcooking.

In fact, baking shrimp is one of the best ways I know to ensure that they cook perfectly, especially when you're making lots of them.

Yes, shrimp take almost no time to cook, especially if you butterfly them, the technique of slitting them halfway through all along their length, then opening them up so that, maybe slightly, they look like a butterfly. That's why sauteing, pan-frying, stir-frying, deep-frying, and grilling -- all quick methods -- are popular ways to cook shrimp.

But try using any of those methods to prepare lots of shrimp and you start to see the problem. You need multiple pans, and multiple hands, to get them all done at once. Or you have to cook them in batches, which also means that you eat them in batches or wait until all the cooking is done -- by which time some of them are cold or overcooked.

Baking, however, is another story, with a happier ending.

As you'll see in my recipe for Butterflied Baked Shrimp, all the shrimp are prepped together and go into the oven at the same time. The recipe here serves four; but all you need to double, triple, or quadruple it is a bigger baking dish or multiple dishes. You can prepare the shrimp for baking well in advance, too, and keep them covered in the refrigerator. And, as long as you preheat the oven good and hot, the shrimp still cook quickly.

Serve them as an appetizer, as I do in my Wolfgang Puck Cafes. Or place them atop hot linguine or spaghetti tossed with your favorite tomato sauce or pesto for a delicious main course.

However you serve them, one bite will make you, too, feel like you've been magically transported to the Riviera or the Amalfi Coast.

BUTTERFLIED BAKED SHRIMP WITH HERBED BREADCRUMBS

Serves 4

2 cups fresh breadcrumbs

16 extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tail fins left on

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 ounces unsalted butter, melted

4 cups baby arugula leaves, rinsed well and patted dry

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon, juiced

Lemon wedges, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Evenly spread the breadcrumbs on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes, watching very carefully to make sure they don't burn. Remove them from the oven, transfer to a mixing bowl, and set aside to cool. Raise the oven temperature to 500 degrees.

With a small, sharp knife, butterfly the shrimp by slicing all along the length of its outer curve where the vein was removed, cutting about half to two-thirds of the way down through it, from just in front of the tail to the head end; be careful not to cut all the way through. Turn the shrimp over and gently make three very shallow slits across the other side, perpendicular to the length of the shrimp, to prevent it from curling during cooking. Lightly season each shrimp on both sides with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Add the basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, and garlic to the breadcrumbs, season with some salt and pepper, and toss well.

Brush a large ovenproof skillet with some of the melted butter to coat the bottom. Dip each shrimp in the butter, opened side down, and then dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing down so the crumbs stick and coat the shrimp well. Place all the shrimp, breadcrumb side up, in the skillet in a single layer and drizzle them with some of the remaining melted butter. Bake just until the shrimp are just cooked through, turning pink and white, and the breadcrumbs are a deep brown, about 5 minutes.

While the shrimp are baking, put the arugula leaves in a mixing bowl, add the olive oil and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and toss well. Divide the arugula among four serving plates, mounding it in the center. Arrange four shrimp, breadcrumbs up, around each mound of arugula. Drizzle the shrimp with the last of the melted butter. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

(Chef Wolfgang Puck's TV series, "Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class," airs Sundays on the Food Network. Also, his latest cookbook, "Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy," is now available in bookstores. Write Wolfgang Puck in care of Tribune Media Services Inc., 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207.)